Goode Luck
by DazedDoxie
Summary: Annabeth transfers to Goode along with Clarisse, Chris, the Stolls, Thalia, Nico, and so many more! This is the first story in my "Cliche's Quest" in which I will be writing my version of all the cliche fanfics out there. *All rights go to Rick Riordan I do not own this series or anything that has to do with this series* Rated T, though an extremely mild one
1. Surprise!

**Percy POV**

Last year I was the loser freshman who blew up a cheerleader. No girl but Rachel would dare talk to me because their status on the social ladder would drop down a ledge or two.

It is truly amazing what a battle-filled summer can do to a guy.

_Two Months later~ October_

"So Percy, there's that Sadie Hawkins dance coming up…" The girl drawled. On the inside, I groaned.

"Uh… yeah, I heard…" I said absently as I gathered books from my locker.

"Are you gonna go… do you think?" She asked and twirled a piece of hair between her fingers.

"I've uh… I've got a thing." I mumbled.

"Oh, well, maybe next time." She said, and took the walk of rejection back to her friends. I banged my head against the locker door. I mean really, do they ever let up? I'd almost rather blend in again.

"Another hopeful member of the Jackson Fan Club?" Hayden smirked as he walked up next to me. I nodded.

"That's the third one today." I said and slammed my locker, "This Sadie Hawkins thing is really gonna kill me." Right after the monsters do. Hayden rolled his eyes.

"Remind me why you say no to the _hottest_ girls in this school again?" He asked as we walked through the halls.

"Because of my girlfriend," I repeated, "Annabeth, remember?"

"Ah yes, the girl you photo shop into all those pics of you and Grover." We had this conversation a lot.

"I'm telling you, she's real."

"Well then why don't you call her?" Because using a phone will attract even more monsters.

"Because I'm out of minutes for the month."

"Just like you were last month… and the month before that…" He grinned at me, "Dude, you're not gay are you?" I laughed.

"You wish, Landin." I said as we entered the pool for swim practice. Hayden punched my shoulder.

"Just get in the pool, Captain."

**Grover POV**

"Come on, you can't really believe his whole girlfriend story." Trinity said at lunch before Percy got there, "I mean he makes her sound so… perfect." Ha! Annabeth, perfect, maybe in her own mind. And Percy's too… but that's not the point!

"Oh I believe him, I've met her." Trinity raised an eyebrow at me.

"Sorry Grover, I just can't." She apologized. I shrugged just as Percy and Hayden walked up. The change in Trinity was so obvious even I noticed it (and that's saying something!). She sat up straighter, started messing with her long, dark hair.

"Hey guys," Percy greeted us as he took a seat next to me.

"Hey," Trinity said, but she wasn't looking at him.

"Sup, Trin." Hayden greeted her. She blushed.

Ah, young love.

Speaking of which, here comes my girlfriend, Juniper. Wow, she was beautiful. To think I'd crushed on that one blueberry bush once…

"Hi Grover!" She squeaked and kissed my cheek, making my face heat up. Percy had a sort of wistful look in his eyes when he saw us, "Heard from Annabeth recently, Perce?" Juniper asked. He nodded and started going on and on about her once again.

"You'd think she's half goddess the way you talk about her!" Hayden commented. Juniper, Percy, and I shared a glance, than burst out laughing. If only they knew...

_One month later~ November_

**Annabeth's POV**

When Chiron IM'd me with the news I almost jumped through the roof.

After the Titan War, most of the monsters dispersed but some were straggling in the city. Chiron decided it might be safer for us demigods if we were all together this year. Plus, I needed to be closer to Olympus to oversee production.

Goode High School was perfect for this. It was close to Olympus and it had a mortal teacher who could easily bail us out. And then there was Percy…

Today was going to be my first day there. The other demigods joining us this year were the Stoll brothers, Katie Gardner, Clarisse La Rue with her boyfriend Chris Rodriguez, Beckendorf and his girlfriend Silena Beauregard, our oracle Rachel, Head Hunter Thalia, and son of Hades Nico. They were arriving tomorrow though. I just couldn't wait another day to see Percy again!

We were all staying in this huge apartment that camp was paying for not far from Percy's place. I locked the door and quick caught a bus to school.

Behind the front desk was a frizzy redheaded woman chewing on the end of her pencil.

"Name," She asked nasally.

"Annabeth Chase, I'm one of the transfer students?" She picked up a piece of paper and handed it to me.

"Schedule and stuff's in there. Have a Goode day." She drawled and turned to her computer.

_Well ok then_… I thought and turned around only to run into a girl.

"Oh my gods, I'm sorry!" I said and stooped down to pick up some paper's she'd dropped.

"Oh that's alright, I wasn't looking." The girl said. She had really dark hair and light brown eyes, "You must be new here. I'm Trinity."

"Annabeth," I said.

"Nice to meet you." She straightened up, "If you want I can show you to your locker."

"That'd be great, thank you." I said and she led me down a hall.

"So where'd you move from?" She asked.

"California," She looked me up and down.

"Makes sense," She said with a smile, "Oh here's your locker!" She said, "You're across from a friend of mine. His name's Hayden." She said it with a look in her eyes that I'd seen enough in Aphrodite's children.

"Hayden, huh?" I said with a teasing smile. Her ears turned a little pink.

"Is it really that obvious?" She asked. I nodded.

"Just a bit." She smiled.

"If only he saw that…" She muttered and shook her head, "Anyways who's your homeroom?" I checked the piece of paper in my hand.

"Uh… Mrs. Hamm." Unfortunate last name. Her eyes brightened.

"Oh, you're in Hayden's class then! Him and another friend of mine. There they are!" She said and pointed behind me. I turned, and there he was. Percy Jackson in the flesh standing next to a boy with dirty blonde hair. Without realizing it, I smiled. Trinity noticed.

"Uh oh, you've got the look." She said. I looked back to her.

"What's that?" I asked. She grinned.

"The look. The "Percy Jackson Fan Girl" look." I almost laughed.

"He has a fan club?" I asked. She nodded.

"Oh yeah, big one too. It's basically every girl in the school. As stupid as it sounds, Percy's kind of everyone's idea of a perfect guy: Captain of the swim team, funny, nice, and I'll admit it he is kind of cute." She said it like it was a fact, not her opinion. I watched as a bunch of giggling idiots huddled across the hall from him whispering and laughed. Lucky that my celestial bronze went straight through them, otherwise they'd be dead by now.

"So he's popular?" I confirmed. She nodded.

"Oh yeah, the most." Wow, that's new…"Hey I like you, so I'll warn you now." She said, "Percy's kind of off limits." I raised an eyebrow.

"Is he?" She nodded.

"Yeah, he turns down every girl that has the guts to ask him out. Says he has a girlfriend, but she sounds too perfect to be true so nobody actually believes him." Aw, Percy. I looked back towards him. He was leaning against the lockers with his back to me. I contemplated how I would first tell him I'd transferred…

_DING!_

"Well that's the bell, what's your first class?" She asked and peeked over my shoulder at my schedule.

"English with Mr. Blofis." Her brown eyes brightened.

"Really? Percy and I have that class too! Maybe you can meet him before lunch," She said with a wink. The wink didn't say "_I bet you have a shot with him_." It said something more along the lines of "_you poor lovesick puppy you. I'll humor you until you get the message."_

But hey, she was nice, so I played along and grinned.

"Lets get there before we get locked out then." I said and followed her as she led the way through the twisting halls to the English wing.

Percy's step-dad, Paul, stood outside the door greeting students. We rounded the corner just as the night black hair ducked into the room. Paul spotted us, and smiled.

"Ms. Zemm, why don't you head inside while I get acquainted with our newest student?" He said to Trinity. She nodded.

"Yes sir," and did as she was asked. When she was out of sight, Paul grinned at me.

"Ah Annabeth! How are you adjusting so far?" He asked. I shrugged.

"It's only high school, Mr. Blofis, I've dealt with worse." He chuckled.

"I suppose that's so," he clapped his hands together as the final bell rang and students ran to their rooms before the doors shut, "Why don't I head inside and make sure his back's turned as I'm sure you have a plan of attack," Paul winked and I laughed.

"Athena always has a plan," I confirmed. Again, he winked, and strode into the classroom. I counted to ten before following him in.

The classroom was still fairly unorganized even though class had officially begun two minutes ago. Jocks were sitting on desks throwing paper airplanes at each other, girls were checking their phones, and others were quickly filling in homework before the teacher looked. Percy stood with his back to me talking to Paul over his desk. I walked through the stuffed classroom towards him. Trinity shot me a warning look that clearly said _"Don't do it, you'll get hurt!"_ but I just shrugged and winked at her. A few girls in the back of the room glared at me when they saw whom I was about to go up to. Maybe tomorrow I'd bring a real knife to school…

Mr. Blofis pretended not to see me, which was good. I pressed three fingers to a spot on the small of Percy's back that marked his Achilles Heel. He stiffened immediately in alarm.

"_Perseus Jackson_," I hissed in his ear, trying to sound like some kind of monster. Within a half a second he had grabbed my wrists and spun so that he had my hands locked in his grip behind my back with us face to face. He blinked in shock when his kelp green eyes met my grey ones. I stretched my neck and pecked him quickly on the lips.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain," I said in a teasing tone. Before he could reply I spun, took his wrist, and judo flipped him over my shoulder. There were gasps from our audience. I leaned over his head as he looked up with eyes wider than shields. I shook my head in mock disappointment.

"Tsk tsk, Percy, you're rusty. Mr. Brunner would be so disappointed." I teased. He swung his arm towards my legs to knock me off my feet, but I jumped over it with a grin and held out my hand to help him up. His fingers didn't let go of mine though; he pulled me in for an organ-crushing hug.

"Annabeth! What are you doing here?" He asked with a grin brighter than Apollo's chariot.

"I transferred." He raised an eyebrow, "Mr. Brunner thought it would be best for us to stick together this year in light of the past events. He thought I should be closer to you, and my mother because of our little project…" Even he wasn't so dense he couldn't get that hint.

"Got it," He said knowingly, I grinned. Behind us, Paul coughed awkwardly. It was only then that I realized the room had gone silent during our reunion. Our faces went red.

"Class, take your seats." Paul said loudly. People shuffled to their chairs, still staring at Percy and me, "Annabeth, there's an empty seat by Percy." Paul informed me with a wink. My blush deepened as I thanked him and followed Percy to our seats.

"I still can't believe you're here!" Percy whispered to me as class started. We were sitting near the back, but it's not like Paul would have cared anyways. I smiled at him.

"I couldn't leave you to defend yourself alone now could I? Seeing as how I just beat your butt…" He rolled his eyes and shoved my shoulder.

"Ha ha, very funny." He said sarcastically.

"Class!" Paul said loudly all of a sudden, making me jump a little, "We will be reading the Odyssey this quarter." He announced, "For today we will focus on Odysseus's journey to the Island of Polyphemus." Percy smirked at me.

"Memories, huh?" He whispered. I chuckled.

"Grover looked great in a dress." I joked, he grinned.

"You weren't looking too bad yourself, Nobody." He teased back. I laughed a little too loudly.

"Something you'd like to share with us, Ms. Chase?" Paul asked, purely out of formality.

"Percy and I were just discussing Polyphemus." I explained, "He and I were debating whether or not he'd fall for the Nobody trick a second time."

"That's right!" Percy piped up, "I said he wouldn't, he's not that stupid."

"But he is half-blind, it's very possible that he could believe it was the same person." I fake argued when we both knew I was right.

"But what if this new person were completely different from the original Nobody? What if this person was a smaller, younger, more feminine Nobody?" He asked with a smirk.

"Maybe the stench of sheep makes him woozy enough to believe that it's the same person," I suggested, remembering how Percy had had to hang onto the underbelly of a sheep to sneak into the cave. He winced at that.

"I can understand that." He squeaked. I chuckled.

"Insightful thinking, you two." Paul complimented us. He then proceeded with the planned lesson.

"Nice save," Percy hissed, I winked.

"In case you've forgotten, I'm full of ideas." He rolled his eyes.

"How could I forget when you remind me every five minutes?" He muttered. I smirked.

At the end of class, Paul said that we had five extra minutes to mess around and do nothing so long as we didn't crowd by the door. Percy grinned and moved his chair to sit across the desk from me.

"So Annabeth, I take it you know Percy?" Trinity drawled and came to stand next to us. I smiled and nodded.

"Trinity, meet my very _real_ girlfriend, Annabeth." Percy said proudly.

"We've already met," I told him, "She's told me some interesting things about you." He turned red out of embarrassment.

"Oh… l-like what?" I grinned.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Trinity said with a smirk and a wink at me. Oh yeah, I definitely liked her.

"If she told you about that thing with the hair dye I'm telling you now I confiscated all the photos!" I raised an eyebrow.

"Hair dye? Wrong story, Perce." He blushed.

"Although it does sound like an interesting one…" I teased.

"Anyways!" He interrupted, "Annabeth, what's your next class?"

"Bio with Brynn." His face fell a little.

"That sucks, I have still calculus alone then." Trinity grimaced.

"Not totally alone," She said in disgust.

"Am I missing something here?" I asked. Trinity nodded.

"These two girls are in that class and… they aren't the friendliest of people…" He said with a shudder.

"Damn Barbies." Trinity grumbled.

"You know, you'd get along really well with our friend, Thalia." I told her, "Now what's wrong with these girls?" I asked Percy, "Are they not in your 'fan club'?" I asked with a smirk. He stuck his tongue out at me very mature-like.

"Actually they're kind of the presidents of the fan club." He said, "But I think you could take over pretty easy. They meet on Tuesdays." I raised an eyebrow, "No I'm serious. They literally meet on Tuesdays outside the school before class."

"Wow." Talk about desperate, "Now these girls in your calculus class…" The bell interrupted me. Percy reached over and squeezed my hand.


	2. Meet Hayden Landin

**Annabeth POV**

"Don't worry about them," He said as we walked to my biology classroom, "How could they possibly compete with the architect of Olympus?" I rolled my eyes.

"Get to class, Seaweed Brain." I said and shoved his shoulder.

"Not quite yet," He said mischievously and tilted my chin up, "I haven't gotten a proper hello yet." I rolled my eyes, but got up on my toes to kiss him.

"See you in Greek," I said and pushed him towards his class. He gave me a lopsided grin, then ran to catch his next class. The smile was still plastered to my face as I walked into the classroom.

"Aaaaannabeth!" A goat bleated.

"Grover!" I said brightly and reached out to hug the satyr. He smelled of grass and… wait, was that aluminum?

"Chiron told me you guys wouldn't be here until tomorrow, though!" He said, "Not that it's a bad thing you're here early, I mean that's great!" He started tripping over his own tongue.

"I decided to come a day earlier than everyone else." I said as a slight tinge of pink colored my cheeks, which Grover noticed. That, and he could read emotions I suppose.

"Don't worry, I get it." He said and looked at a girl over my shoulder. Petite, elfish good looks, green tinged eyes: Juniper.

"You're early!" She squealed and hugged me tight around the waist. For a tree, she's pretty strong!

"Juniper, you're hurting her!" Grover fretted. I winked at him.

"Well anyways, welcome to Goode, Annabeth. Goode luck!" She giggled as she went to stand beside Grover. The ADHD in my brain started thinking about how cute they were as a couple. They were both so in tune with their hippy sides. Juniper's really sweet and headstrong and Grover needs a girl like that. I'm so glad he didn't end up with that blueberry bush. She was as mean as the gorgons! I mean really, Grover, just because a plant has fruit doesn't make her sweet…

"Please take your seats so that we may begin todays lesson." The teacher called as he walked in and set a stack of paper onto his desk. The students around me seemed to sit at random, so I took a place beside the boy I had seen talking to Percy this morning, Hayden I believe.

I was grateful to Mr. Brynn for not making me introduce myself to the class like most teachers. It's not like any of these kids really cared. The only interesting things about myself are things that I wouldn't tell them anyways.

Hayden kept looking at me funny, there was a look in his eyes that said he was thinking hard about something or other. During our work time, I asked him about it.

"You're looking at me kind of strange, you know?" I said. He blushed.

"You just look familiar, have we met?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Doubtful, I just got here. I'm Annabeth Chase." I said and held out my hand. Hayden shook it cautiously, like I would explode or something.

"Hayden Landin." He said. You could almost see the light bulb go off over his head, "Annabeth! My friend mentioned that name earlier, and I think he showed me a picture of you, too. Do you know Percy Jackson?" He asked.

"We've met before," I said elusively. Hayden smirked triumphantly.

"I knew it! You know, he's been telling everyone that you're his girlfriend." He informed me. I chuckled.

"I certainly hope so," And cue the shocked look.

"Wait, so it's the truth?" Grinning, I nodded.

"Yep, every word." Probably, Percy tended to stretch the truth just a bit.

"So you're the famous Annabeth? From San Francisco?"

"That would be me."

"The super smart one?"

"Yep."

"The one who wants to be an architect?"

"Yes, sir."

"The one he met at summer camp?"

"The very same."

"The one that looks like a goddess?" That one made me burst out laughing, earning me a glare from the teacher.

"You two stop flirting and take notes." He barked. I rolled my eyes. Please, like I would ever be caught dead flirting with anyone, let alone the mortal. Besides, I'd learned this subject already.

"That would be a matter of opinion," I whispered back to Hayden, "But you have been talking to a biased person." It was a very Percy-esque thing to say.

"Well then it's nice to meet you." Hayden said with a chuckle.

"You too, Percy's mentioned you. You guys swim together, right?"

"Swim, yes. Together, no. Percy's too fast for me." That cheater.

"Percy's half-fish. There's nobody faster than he is." I told him. Hayden smirked.

"I believe it, the guy's a freakin' machine!" I grinned with pride. That's my fish boy. You hear that mortal girls? _My_ fish boy.

"So I've heard." He seemed to catch onto the slight edge to my tone.

"You've met the fans, I see?" He said, "I wouldn't worry about them if I were you. They're just irritating, but most of them are harmless." He said the words "most of them" rather quickly.

"Which of them aren't harmless?" I asked.

"The self-imposed president and her sidekick. At least, that's what we call them." Hayden said, "Their names are Calypso* and Victoria. Perce has Calc with them this hour actually. Poor guy."

"What makes them different from the rest of the girls?" I asked.

"For one thing they have influence. Everyone hates them, but Calypso's mother is a model, and Victoria's dad is some big-time lawyer. These girls have some serious strings to pull and they are not afraid to use them. Plus, and I hate to admit this," He said with a groan, "they're really hot. I'm talking drop dead gorgeous. The other fans, they either look like clowns with skimpy skirts, or they try to look like that and miserably fail." So they're pretty girls with influential parents. My mother's the goddess of wisdom for Zeus's sake!

"I think I can take them," I said with confidence. Hayden shook his head.

"You don't understand, they're persistent. These girls have asked out Percy every other day the entire year. They hired a bunch of musicians, performers; a lot of these different stunts to guilt him into saying yes. But he always said no. He told me he was more scared of you finding out than he was of getting sued by Victoria's father." Considering the fact that my mother could blast him to oblivion, that I would kick his butt all the way to Tartarus, and the celestial bronze knife strapped to my side, I could believe this.

"Good, I've trained him well." I joked. Hayden grinned, then continued with his profile on Calypso and Victoria.

"Eventually Victoria stopped trying and she became Calypso's wing-woman. They haven't tried anything on Percy for a few days, which means they're planning something huge. I'd watch your back if I were you." He warned me. Sweet of him to warn me.

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you." I said.

* * *

***In this story Percy never went to Ogygia, Calypso's OOC and also has nothing to do with Greek Mythology. **


	3. Was There Ever an Option?

**A/N Thanks so much for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! I hope to update every few days, maybe even sooner because it's break!**

* * *

**Percy POV**

"Perce!" Hayden yelled my name and on instinct I turned around to see him enter the classroom with… Annabeth?

"Uh…"

"Look who I found!" Hayden said and pushed Annabeth in front of him. She rolled her eyes and stepped up to kiss my cheek.

"Hayden's in Biology with me." She explained. It took me months to make friends with these two and she does it in the first two hours without any help. Why does she have to be better at _everything_?

"Oh Percy!" Hayden winced.

"Company…" he muttered. Annabeth's eyes hardened as the devil herself walked in, fresh from Tartarus.

"Are you ready for that oral exam we have today?" She asked in a bubbly voice, as though she cared about the test (which I had totally forgotten about, by the way).

"I take it you're Calypso?" Annabeth said, and stepped forward with her hand outstretched, "I'm Annabeth." Calypso raised an eyebrow, but shook Annabeth's hand. Afterwards she wiped her hand on her jeans as though Annabeth was covered in slime.

"Uh… hi?" She said, "Anyways, Percy we should really practice again."

"I told you this yesterday, I'm taking the exam with Hayden." We had to talk to another person in the class for at least three minutes in total Greek. I, being half Greek god, was totally prepared for once. Hayden… was not.

"But doesn't it make sense that the two best Greek speakers in the class take it together?" She asked for the third time.

"Two best Greek speakers, huh?" Annabeth said, "That would be Percy and…"

"Me, duh." Calypso rolled her eyes, "What's it to you, new kid?" Percy tensed, but I spoke before he did something stupid.

"You know I'm pretty good at Greek myself," She said. Calypso laughed, a short, hard, laugh.

"There's no way you're better than me. I'm almost fluent." She flipped her cinnamon-color hair over her shoulder, as though it made her even more desirable. Over her shoulder, Hayden shook his head and stuck his tongue out at her. Annabeth giggled, making Calypso glare harder at her.

"Μπορείτε μύδια τσουγκράνα." (You eat clams) Calypso said in Greek. I raised an eyebrow before bursting out laughing along with Annabeth. Fluent, yeah right!

"If the four of you are done with your little laugh fest over there, we have a class to start." Mrs. Cerubla said sternly. We muttered excuses before taking our seats. Other kids eyed Annabeth with interest, especially Calypso.

"I see we have a new student, Annabeth?" Mrs. Cerubla said, Annabeth raised her hand.

"Yes?" The teacher eyed her as though she was contemplating how much of a dumb blonde she was.

"Have you ever taken Greek before?" She nodded.

"I'm fluent." Mrs. Cerubla pursed her lips. She heard that a lot.

"Would you please say a couple sentences in Greek, then?" She asked.

"Ναι, κυρία μου." (Yes ma'am). Annabeth said, "Έχω μιλήσει ελληνικά από τότε που ήμουν επτά." (I've spoken Greek since I was seven). Mrs. Cerubla just looked at her blankly, so she continued, "Υποθέτω ότι είστε πολύ καλά, όπως καλά?" (I take it you're fluent as well?). I laughed, and tried to cover it with a cough.

"Δεν μπορεί να μιλήσει μια λέξη για να σώσει τη ζωή της." (She can't speak a word to save her life). I told her. Annabeth smiled.

"Αλήθεια? Ας δοκιμάσει αυτή τη θεωρία, πρέπει να έχουμε?" (Oh really? Let's test that theory, shall we?).

"Έχω όλο το χρόνο, κανείς δεν έπιασε ακόμη." (I have been all year; nobody's caught on yet). She chuckled.

"Ξέρετε, εμείς απλά νομίζετε ότι όλοι θα πρέπει να γνωρίζουν ότι είμαστε ημίθεων! Πέρσι νίκησε εδώ ένα Τιτάνα, και είμαι ανοικοδόμηση της Olympus!" (You know, we just think you all should know that we're demigods! Percy here defeated a Titan, and I'm rebuilding Olympus!) She said to the class. No response. My laugh echoed through the room.

"Θεοί Μου έλειψες." (Gods I missed you). She turned a little pink.

"Aw, Μου έλειψες πολύ Φύκια εγκεφάλου." (Aw, I missed you too Seaweed Brain). Mrs. Cerubla cleared her throat.

"Well done Annabeth, er, Percy. One day you'll be as fluent as I am." She said. _Don't roll your eyes, don't roll your eyes…_ I chanted to myself. I'd gotten detention for that already this year. Annabeth on the other hand, the first person to perfect sucking up, reacted differently.

"We can only hope, Mrs. Cerubla." And just like that she's ensured that she gets A's for the rest of the quarter, smart move. Haha, Calypso looked _mad._

"Maybe we should get on with our presentations," She said to the teacher.

"Of course," She said, "Percy, Annabeth, you get an A." Score!

"What about Hayden?" I asked. She shrugged, "You can talk to him too I suppose."

The rest of class was pretty boring. Calypso and her partner attempted to talk about how Calypso and I would make a great couple, but they ended up talking about how amazingly handsome surfing on an armchair in the middle of a sea of pudding was. Annabeth just kept coughing to cover her outbursts of laughter.

When the bell _finally _rang we raced out the door so that we could laugh so hard my stomach started to come up my throat.

"I had no idea they had such strong feelings about armchairs." I said between bursts of laughter.

"How they mixed up the words "pudding" and "green" I will never know." Hayden, on the other hand, had no clue what was so funny. Yeah, he didn't speak Greek too well either.

Gym was pretty average, I'd say. Annabeth and I dominated absolutely everything while Calypso and her cohort, Victoria, steamed in the corner.

"They were amazing!" Trinity exclaimed at lunch. Grover, Juniper, Annabeth, Trinity, Hayden, and me were all sitting at a table near the windows at the end of the room where we had a great view of the parking lot.

"It wasn't that amazing," Annabeth muttered modestly.

"No really, it was. I knew Percy ran strong, but Annabeth, I mean wow. Where did you guys learn all that stuff?" We just mumbled excuses into our lunches.

"If you think that's amazing, you should have seen them in Greek! They had Mrs. Cerubla confused!" Hayden said. Grover raised an eyebrow.

"What did they do?" He asked suspiciously.

"We just had a conversation." Annabeth said.

"In Greek!" Hayden said, "Perfect, fluent Greek. Nobody knew a thing they were saying."

"Interesting…" Juniper said, she winked at Annabeth, "Εσείς πήρε εντελώς πλεονέκτημα που δεν έκανες?" (You guys totally took advantage of that, didn't you?). Annabeth chuckled, and nodded.

"Ήταν ξεκαρδιστικό!" (It was hilarious!) I said.

"Να είστε προσεκτικοί, μία από αυτές τις μέρες κάποιος πρόκειται να καταλάβουν πραγματικά κάτι." (Be careful, one of these days someone's going to actually understand something) Grover reprimanded us. I shrugged.

"Αμφιβάλλω, ότι ο δάσκαλος δεν θα μπορούσε να τους διδάξει πώς να το πω σκύλο." (I doubt it, that teacher couldn't teach them how to say dog) I said.

"Oh great, they all speak Greek now!" Trinity moaned. We smiled at each other.

"Where'd you guys learn this?" Hayden asked. Again, we mumbled answers into our lunches.

"Oh Percy!" _Again?!_ I looked at Annabeth out of the corner of my eye. Great, poker face. Someone's getting killed today.

I'll admit (NEVER tell Annabeth), Calypso and Victoria were pretty. They didn't wear too much makeup or wear revealing clothes. They were naturally pretty.

Of course they would never be as beautiful as Annabeth (You can tell her I said that).

"Hi Percy!" Victoria squeaked as her and Calypso walked over. She was silenced when Calypso glared at her, only to look back at me with a smile.

"Hey Percy!" She said.

"Hi," I said flatly.

"Hi!" Annabeth said brightly. A look of disgust came across Calypso's face.

"Anyways, Percy," Calypso continued.

"You know now isn't a good time…" I tried to interrupt. She didn't stop talking.

"You know how my mom's a model?" She said the word "model" loudly, staring pointedly at Annabeth. Annabeth, who's mother was a goddess.

"I've heard." I mumbled.

"Well she got invited to this _amazing_ party that the models of Victoria's Secret have every year on a yacht off the coast. She said I could bring along a friend…" She drawled. That was just cold-blooded, bribing a son of Poseidon with a boat.

And the models too I guess. But don't tell Annabeth!

"That's alright, I've been on tons of boats." She wasn't fazed.

"Come on Percy, it's a pool party on a yacht with a bunch of pretty girls, you know… like me…" Annabeth coughed _very_ loudly.

"It's November, it's cold."

"All the better. Pleeease Percy?" She pleaded; widening her hazel eyes pleadingly, "My mom really wants to meet you." I winced. When it came to other people's moms I had not had very good luck. Athena, for example…

"We have plans to go see my mom this weekend, actually." Annabeth interrupted, poker faced once more. I turned to her with panic.

"Wait what?" She nodded calmly.

"She wants the two of us to visit her at _work._ Didn't I mention that?" Hyperventilating…. Oh gods this was worse than facing Medusa!

"Um… no!" Athena was gonna kill me!

"We're meeting her this weekend." Annabeth said, "But I suppose we can reschedule if you're going to this party."

"If you go, your invitation is personally delivered by one of the models." Calypso sang. Boat filled with Victoria's Secret Models in bikinis, or Annabeth and her evil mother who was bent on destroying me.

Annabeth was involved, was there ever really an option?

"Tell me when and where," I said to Annabeth. She smiled and kissed my cheek. Now, Calypso looked downright murderous. But she quickly recovered and regained her sunny smile.

"Next time then," She said and stalked off with Victoria in her wake.

"_Vlacas_," Annabeth spit, her hand was at her side, pressing something strapped to her side. I took that hand and laced my fingers through hers to say both "_I love you" _and _"Please don't kill anyone"_.

"So, apartment you say…" I said. She nodded.

"Yeah, camp is paying for one a few minutes away from your place." She said.

"You're staying there alone?" I asked. That wasn't good, what if a monster attacked her? She just shrugged.

"I can handle myself, Percy." She said and took a bite out of her apple.

"That is so unfair!" Hayden said. Annabeth smirked.

"I don't know about this, Annabeth…" I said, "What if someone breaks in?" She knew what I meant.

"I can handle it. You're starting to sound like your mother." She said, making me turn red.

"At least come over tonight so you can say hi to my mom, hang out for a while…"

"Do your math homework for you?" This is why I loved her.


	4. Studying

**A/N Thanks for the reviews and suggestions on how to improve the story! A lot more Percabeth fluff will come into play here and the other characters will be entering soon, promise! **

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

"I'm bringing a real knife to school tomorrow." Those girls were gonna pay!

"Don't do anything rash…" Percy said, squeezing my hand. We were walking back to his apartment from school and I was finally let out the frustration.

"I mean the nerve of asking you out while your _girlfriend_ was sitting _right there!"_

"I can't help that I'm so attractive," He smirked. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm serious, you know."

"Yes, I know." His eyes glinted, "Which is why I'm going to be checking all of your pockets before school tomorrow."

"I have my ways of sneaking knives places, Seaweed Brain." I said as we walked into his building.

"You should go to the fan club meeting tomorrow morning," He said, "That would be the best place to kick all their butts at once."

"Oh you just want an excuse to go see all the girls fawning over you."

"Untrue! I want to see my beautiful Wise Girl beat up the girls that have been irritating me all year." Cue the blush.

"Touché." I said.

"Which means…?" I raised an eyebrow.

"It's an expression, it means good one, basically."

"So I won?" I sighed.

"Yes, Percy. Just this once, you won." I relented. He grinned.

"Could you repeat that?" He said.

"You won an argument against me! Happy?"

"Now was that so hard?" At this point, I punched him. And it hurt. Serves him right.

"Mom I'm home!" Percy yelled, massaging his shoulder. Sally came out of the kitchen with a smear of flour across her forehead.

"Annabeth!" She said and ran to hug me, "Percy what happened to your arm?" She asked, still hugging me.

"He was being stupid again." I explained. She laughed.

"Cookies coming out soon, kids!" She said and walked back into the kitchen, "Are you staying for dinner, Annabeth?" She called.

"Yes!" Percy answered for me, "We'll be in my room!" He yelled and dragged me down the hall.

"I'm perfectly capable of answering for myself, you know." I said as I plopped down on his bed. He sat down at my feet and leaned against the wall.

"I needed to be certain of your answer." He said. I rolled my eyes and pulled out my civics textbook. Percy groaned and covered his face with a pillow.

"Do we _have_ to do homework?" He whined.

"If we don't start now, we'll have to do it later." I said and started taking notes. Percy, on the other hand, remained where he was.

"Come on Annabeth, lets just take a break for an hour. Or two…"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"Not going to happen."

"I'll be your best friend?"

"I already have a best friend."

"Ouch," I sighed.

"Just do your homework, Percy." He gazed at me with his big green eyes.

"Will you do it for me?"

"I'll help you with it." Since we argued a lot and he knew he would almost never win (today being an exception), he relented. Such a smart, stupid boy.

We sat in silence for a grand total of three minutes, a new record.

"Annabeth I don't get this." He said. I crawled over and sat next to him to look over his shoulder at the math homework. I tried to ignore the fact that he smelled like the ocean, making my heart beat out of my chest.

"Which one?"

"All of them." Instead of getting into another pointless argument, I took the paper and started to explain the process.

"Now what you have to do here is…" I started to take him step-by-step through the first problem. It was getting kind of hard to concentrate, though. All the while he was staring at me with those gorgeous eyes of his, calmly twirling a piece of my hair between his fingers.

"Percy are you listening to me?" I asked. He nodded.

"Every word." Yeah, right.

"What did I just say?"

"Percy, are you listening to me." He answered with a grin. Damn loopholes…

"If you want to fail, be my guest." He started pouting.

"This is so _boring!"_ If school were fun, everyone would be an idiot.

"How about I use a different teaching technique?" I suggested, "Every time you solve one of these problems correctly," I shoved his worksheet back to him, "You get a kiss."

"Now why would I do that when I could just kiss you without all the math stuff?" He asked, already leaning closer to me.

"Because you know that I have a knife strapped to me side and if you get too close before finishing a problem I'm not afraid to use it." I was the only person in the world who knew his Achille's Heel. I was the only one who could actually kill him if I wanted. He knew this, and sighed.

"Fine, explain it again." He said glumly. I did.

Ten minutes of groping and groaning about how he'd never use math after high school, he had the first problem finished.

"Good boy," I complimented him and kissed his cheek.

"Hey! That's not fair!" He said.

"You get a real kiss when you finish the second problem." I said with a smirk.

"Well how do I know you won't cheat again?" He asked.

"You could either finish problem two and have a good chance of me actually kissing you, or you could not do the problem and end up not kissing me for the rest of the night."

He finished problem two.

"Well done, Percy." I said, and kissed his nose.

"You're such a cheater!" He said. I shrugged.

"You're learning, aren't you?" I argued.

"I seriously hope this isn't the way you tutor other guys…" I laughed.

"Only you, Percy. Now for problem three…" He muttered some curses at me in Greek, but finished the problem. This time, I kissed his forehead.

In the middle of problem four, Sally knocked.

"Come in!" Percy yelled. She did, with a plate of her famous fresh baked blue cookies. We thanked her, and she told us dinner would be ready in an hour.

"Problem five, Percy…" I said, munching on a cookie.

"No thanks, I'm good." He said.

"Please? Only five questions left." He raised an eyebrow.

"I've got blue cookies now, you can keep your kisses." He was bluffing.

"If you say so, maybe I should just go home," I said and started to stand. He sat up straight and grabbed my wrist.

"Ok I lied!" I smirked and sat back down.

"Five, now." This time he did it without protest.

"Is it right?" He asked and I took the worksheet.

"It's off by one decimal point." I said. Before he erased the answer I reached over, put both hands on the sides of his face, and kissed him full on the mouth. He was a little surprised at first, reminding me of our very first kiss in Mt. St. Helens. But he soon responded back with enthusiasm.

Much to his dismay, I pulled away after a few seconds, "Six," I said. This time there were absolutely no complaints.

Twenty minutes later his math homework was completely finished.

"Please tell me there isn't a backside." He said. I shook my head.

"Nope, you did good." Percy gave me a lopsided grin.

"Does this mean I'm allowed to kiss you again?" He asked.

"You still have civics notes to-" He cut me off by pressing his mouth firmly against mine. Now, instead of being the good girlfriend and convincing him to finish his homework, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

Two months is a long time in a relationship. **(A/N Ha! Try six months and add in a little amnesia)**

His fingers trailed a line down my spine, making me shiver. His lips tasted like chocolate from the cookies.

"I missed you," He breathed against my lips.

"I missed you too," I whispered back. His lips moved down to the skin underneath my chin. My fingers tightened in his hair.

At first, kissing like this between the two of us had been extremely awkward. There had been a lot of fumbling and bruising. Over time, we'd gotten much better and let me tell you, this boy had perfected the technique.

"DINNER!" Sally yelled through the door. Percy jumped so hard he fell off the end of the bed.

"We're coming!" I called and crawled down onto the floor next to him.

"If I didn't have iron skin, that would have really hurt." He said, rubbing his forehead. I laughed and bent to kiss him one more time.

"Come on, your mom has dinner waiting."


	5. Percy Is Shot With an Arrow

**Percy POV**

I offered to walk Annabeth home. Hesitantly, she accepted. Huh, weird…

The air was a little bit chilly, but not too bad. Not as cold as a Laistrygonian Giant's breath, not as hot as the Sun Chariot. Our connected hands swung between us as we walked the three blocks down the street to Annabeth's apartment complex.

"You know, I think I will go early tomorrow. I want to check out my competition," She said with a smirk. A good boyfriend would tell her that she didn't have competition (which she doesn't, of course). A bad boyfriend would tell her to report back to him, telling him who had the most potential for his next girlfriend (And I was planning on never having a girlfriend who wasn't Annabeth). But me, being the stupid boyfriend, said this:

"Don't bring your knife." She raised an eyebrow.

"What? You don't want any of your fans injured?" Oh crap.

"N-no. I just don't… don't want… don't want _you _to be… to be… uh, arrested?" Smooth, Percy, very smooth. Lucky for me, Annabeth was the best girlfriend in the world and she laughed.

"Terrible save," she laughed. I grinned and kissed the top of her head.

"You know you don't have any competition." I had to squeeze that into the conversation. Red seeped to her cheeks.

"That… is a very good thing to say, I suggest you use that again." She said with a smirk. I grinned as we arrived at her building.

"Do you want me to walk you upstairs?"

"No!" She said quickly. I raised an eyebrow.

"You don't have another boyfriend hidden up there, do you?" I said it like a joke, but honestly I was a little worried. She didn't answer immediately. Switch worried to freaked out of my pants.

"Of course not, Seaweed Brain." She said. Her tone sounded sincere, but I'd learned a long time ago that she was the queen of hiding her emotions.

"Annabeth, what are you hiding?" She pursed her lips.

"Nothing, and if you can't trust me on this…" She used the word "if" that is never good!

"No! Of course I can! You just seem nervous, that's all." Her facial expressions sealed shut.

"Everything's fine, Perce." She said, and smiled. A forced smile, for sure, "Night," She said and bent in for a quick goodnight kiss, "I'll stop by your apartment in the morning and we'll go to school together." She said, "Bye!"

She was in the building before I had a chance to say "goodnight".

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

_That was close,_ I thought, _He almost came up here._

"Good thing he didn't," Grover said. I jumped, "Sorry, emotion reading thing, you know?"

"Right." I mumbled, "Where's Juniper?"

"Here!" She yelled from the kitchen, "You can't cook to save your life, but I can." She said and popped her head out, "I made everyone sandwiches!" She said proudly. I smiled.

"They'll be here any minute. Nico said that they would be shadow traveling, but you never know when the Stoll's are involved. Gods I hope Percy doesn't pass them on the street or something…"

"Calm down, Annabeth, these guys are trained prof… well, they're trained." Grover said, "And not even in stealth either… ok maybe you're right." I frowned and fell down onto the couch yawning.

"Well, I'm exhausted. I've been doing homework all night."

"You sure that's _all_ you were doing?" Juniper called from the kitchen. I glared at her over the half-wall that separated the kitchen from the living room.

"Haha, funny. You sound like my father."

"Good, you need a fatherly figure around while yours is across the country." Juniper said, waving a wooden spoon at me. Why she needed a spoon to make sandwiches…

"My mom is always watching, you know." I pointed out.

"Athena's a goddess, she can't necessarily watch you 24/7 now can she?" She could, but I decided to just give in so that I could go to bed faster.

"Yes, _Mom_," I said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed." Grover lifted his head from his snack of a paper plate.

"Don't you want to wait up for everyone?" I shrugged.

"It's not like they're not going to be there in the morning."

* * *

So, they weren't there in the morning.

"We all figured it was best to let a sleeping Annabeth lie." Grover explained. They all knew that I kept my knife under my pillow at night, "They went into school really early to prepare themselves."

"For what, exactly?" I asked. Grover shrugged.

"Beats me," He said, and took a big goat bite of his fork, "You and Percy are going in early too right?" I nodded and calmly picked up a silver kitchen knife from the counter, brushing apple seeds off of it.

"Oh yes," I said with a smirk. Grover bleated nervously.

"Blaahaahaa," He said, "The Mist can only conceal so much, you know…" I grinned and set it down again.

"Just playing, Grover." I said and picked up an apple slice, "We're going to check out the fan club meeting. Grover made a growling sound.

"Those girls… ugh! They always leave their coffee cups on the ground! Not to mention all of those weight loss granola bar wrappers…"

"You want to tag along with your club?" I offered.

"Tempting…" He said and grinned, "But no thanks. I'm a pacifist, remember?" I picked up my key.

"Whatever you say, Mr. Lord of the Wild." I said, "Say hi to Juniper." I called as I walked out.

"Try to avoid killing any teenagers!"

"Maybe!"

* * *

When I got to his place, Percy was nowhere to be found. Sally was awake, as well as Paul.

"He's sleeping," Sally said the second I walked in, "I've been trying to wake him up for an hour. Feel free to try, maybe you'll have more luck than I did." She sounded like someone who's given up all hope.

6 am, it was still dark out. Percy's room was dark, but I could clearly see his sleeping figure under the sheets. With a silent step I walked over to him. He was almost completely buried in the covers, only the top of his head exposed. I bent down, and pulled back the covers so that I could see his face. Lucky for me he wasn't drooling. I leaned my head down so that my lips were right beside his ear, I opened my mouth…

"GORGONS!" I shouted.

"Wha?!" I jumped out of the way as Percy jolted up, Riptide already in his hand, "Wait… what?" Footsteps sounded down the hallway as Sally and Paul ran and stood in the doorway to find Percy in his pajamas holding a pen, looking down at me crying/laughing.

"W-we're fine, go back to breakfast!" I choked out through the bursts of laughter. The two of them started laughing as they walked away.

"That wasn't funny!" Percy said, his face a bright vermillion. My laughing subsided and I got up to sit next to him on the bed.

"That was _hilarious_, admit it." He was trying so hard not to smile. I shoved his shoulder, "Get dressed, Seaweed Brain." I said as I stood up.

"I don't get a good morning kiss?" He asked a bit dejectedly. I shook my head with a smirk.

"Not until you brush your teeth."

* * *

"Arms out, feet spread." Percy commanded.

"_Excuse _me?" I asked. He and I were walking to school; I'd say a few minutes away.

"I need to check you for weapons, now do it." I sighed, but did as he asked. His hands brushed against my arms and my sides. A slight blush was creeping up to my cheeks when his hand crossed the spot on my hip where my celestial bronze dagger was hidden.

"That's my dagger, and unless you want me to be totally defenseless…" He smirked.

"Ok, you're clean."

"Glad I got your seal of approval." I said dryly. We rounded the corner and got our first view of the school.

Trinity hadn't been kidding. There was a grand total of about thirty girls gathered on the green outside the school with Calypso and Victoria standing in front of them. I pulled Percy towards the front steps where he was out of sight.

"You. Stay." I ordered and took out my invisibility cap. He saluted.

"Yes ma'am." Once I was totally unseen, I planted a quick kiss on Percy's cheek (much to his shock), and walked towards the large group of girls who were likely discussing how cute Percy looked in green.

"… fake blonde. And those eyes? I mean wow, she looks like she wants to kill everyone she sees." Calypso ranted. So they were talking about me, figures.

"There's no way Percy likes her, she must be blackmailing him!"

"Or threatening him!" The girls started arguing amongst themselves. I had never seen a bigger group of completely delusional fan girls together in one place. Well there was that one time at the Justin Bieber concert in SoHo that Silena dragged me to… and the One Direction concert in Jersey that Katie had been dying to go to…

"For Percy's sake we need to break them up!" Someone yelled. I rolled my eyes. Oh please…

"Annabeth," A voice whispered. I turned to see Percy peeking out from the corner, his eyes searching for me even though he knew he wouldn't see me. I strode back to him, walked around, and tapped his shoulder. He whipped around, held out a hand and touched my shoulder. His palm felt it's way up my face to my forehead so he could take off the hat. His stance relaxed a little when I was visible.

"So, did you hear all that?" I asked with amusement. He blushed.

"Sort of…" He looked guilty.

"What a bunch of idiots." I said.

"Well, you do threaten me on multiple occasions." He pointed out with a smirk. I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Didn't I tell you I wasn't going to make things easy once before?" I said before stepping up and planting a kiss on his lips.

"You might have mentioned it." He muttered against my mouth. I chuckled.

"Come on, lets go make them all feel stupid," I said with excitement. He squeezed my hand and followed as we walked up to the mob of girls.

An appreciative silence fell onto the crowd when they realized Percy had arrived. Lipstick was brought out, mirrors were shared, shirts were adjusted to show a lot more cleavage than they should. Calypso and Victoria stepped forward.

"We were just talking about you," She sneered. Percy moved arm so that he was hugging my shoulders instead of just holding my hand.

"We heard." I said coldly. They ignored me.

"Percy, you can tell us the truth you know." Victoria cooed, "We only want to help." Yeah, and I was Zeus.

"Yeah, Percy," I said, he looked at me in shock, "Tell them all about my devious plot." I said sarcastically, "How I gave you a manual on how to be my boyfriend, all the death threats, locking you in my basement when I'm away, kidnapping your mother as ransom…" He started laughing at that one.

"I seriously love you, Annabeth," He said and leaned down to press his lips to my cheek. Many of the girls looked angry, some looked downright sad.

"Love you too, Seaweed Brain." I said and turned my head to kiss his lips.

"Yuck!" A familiar voice called. Something whizzed through the air and all of a sudden Percy wasn't next to me… he was hanging by his sleeve on the side of the school by a silver arrow, "You two really need to take advantage of the phrase 'get a room'!"

"Thalia!" I said and turned to see the lieutenant Hunter holding her bow, still aimed at Percy. She wore her usual clothing: dark t-shirt, dark jeans, and her silver circlet that marker her as Lieutenant. Aegis was in bracelet form on her wrist.

"Look who's awake!" She said with a smirk, "You snore, you know that?"

"I've been telling her that for years!" Percy called from where he was hanging. I rolled my eyes and hugged me friend.

"It's so good to see you again!" I said as she squeezed me back.

"I don't want to interrupt the tender moment here, but Thalia, _get me down!_" He yelled. Before any of the shocked fan girls could move Thalia was at Percy, pulling out the arrow. His feet hit the ground with a thud, "Nice to see you too," He muttered before hugging her too.

"Thalia!" Another voice whined, "You said you would wait for me!"

"Well, I lied." The shadows of the building seemed to bend until out popped Nico di Angelo, in the flesh.

"Nico!" Percy said and gave him one of those awkward side hugs, "What are you guys doing here?" Before they could answer, a police car with all the lights on and the sirens going pulled up to the school. We all watched in awe as Connor and Travis Stoll got out of the back, grinning like madmen, followed by Katie Gardner.

"Yo Perce!" They yelled and waved.

"Oh no," I said, "Did you guys steal a cop car?!" They shook their heads.

"Nah, we got a lift from the station. Apparently it's illegal to loot a candy store on your way to school." Travis said with a wink.

"They needed someone to bail them out," Katie explained as they walked over, "Now hug me," She commanded. I did.

"What are you all doing here?" Percy asked in shock.

"What, Annabeth didn't tell you yet?" Nico asked. I shook my head.

"Not yet,"

"Tell me what?" He asked, still confused.

"That I wasn't the only one who transferred," I explained, "We all did." The smile that crept across his face was bigger and brighter than Olympus itself.

"Blahaahaa, you found them!" Grover bleated as he and Juniper walked up.

"Yeah! Camp reunion!" Connor yelled.

"Hey wait!" Calypso yelled, "Who are all these people?" We ignored her and walked up the steps into the building.

"Where are the rest of them?" I whispered to Thalia as we walked in.

"They'll be here."


	6. Sparring with a Hephaestus

**A/N Thanks so much for the reviews! So some want more Percabeth romance moments, some want less. To fix this I'm going to keep the medium rate I'm going at but I'll give you a heads up if there's a moment coming up. Just so you know I'm not a mature-literature writer so don't ever expect anything past first base from me. One more thing, I'm going to start working on my second "Cliche's Quest" story. Ideas anyone?**

* * *

**Percy POV**

Thalia, Nico, Katie, and the Stolls all together in one place. This year would definitely be an interesting one.

"Please tell me one of you have second period Calculus." I said as we walked to our lockers. Papers shuffled as people looked at their schedules.

"I don't."

"Not me,"

"Sorry,"

"Great, so I'm still stuck with Calypso and Victoria that hour." I groaned. Annabeth patted my shoulder sympathetically.

"There's always…"

"No weapons," She pouted.

Calculus that day was (to use a word Annabeth had taught me earlier) excruciating. Calypso sat in the desk next to mine and the entire time she kept trying to pass me notes asking about that morning. I read the first one, just to make sure the mortals hadn't seen anything too terrifying like Nico suddenly stepping out of the shadows or Thalia shooting people with arrows. Apparently it looked like Nico had just snuck up on me, and Thalia had stuck me up on a branch, which was good. Then she kept pushing little folded pieces of paper at me, which I crumpled up and threw back at her. But the thing about Calypso: she's persistent.

"Stop it!" I hissed. She just passed me another note. I gave in, and read it.

_What could you possibly see in Annabeth? I mean her tan's obviously fake, her hair's too bright to be real, and she's so… controlling._

Lets see… she's half-goddess, of course she's gorgeous, but that's not even why I like her! I mean sure it helps that she always smells like lemons and her hair shines like a new drachma in the sun. Annabeth's strong, and she's brave. She makes me laugh, she has my back (literally) in fights. She's not controlling, she's just a natural born leader. It's a good thing she's around, otherwise I would have been killed my first quest.

Calypso wasn't worth explaining all this to, so I just crumpled the note and threw it at her like I did the others.

* * *

I was definitely looking forward to gym that day. Calypso had been irritating me all day and I needed to let off some steam.

Annabeth met me outside the gym wearing our uniform of black shorts and a t-shirt.

"I heard gym today is pretty entertaining." She said with a smirk, like she knew something I didn't. Of course she always looked like this so I didn't suspect anything.

"Why?" She shrugged.

"I guess we'll find out…" She drawled and opened the door.

The first thing I noticed was a rack of steel swords on the opposite wall of the room.

"Sword-fighting?" I asked, and turned to Annabeth who had a big grin on her face, "We're doing sword-fighting in gym today?" She nodded.

"Yep, and that's not even the best part." Her smile kind of reminded me of the Cheshire cat; sneaky, yet happy.

"What ho, Perce! Think fast!" Battle reflexes mode: on. I spun just in time to catch the hilt of one of the cheap swords on the rack. The person who tossed it, you ask?

"Beckendorf*!" He was standing proudly with an arm around Silena Beauregard*.

"Hiya Percy!" She said brightly, "I see you two are still together," She said, nodding towards Annabeth, "Good! If that ever changes, my mom will kill you both." Aphrodite was a big "Percabeth" supporter. The other, more ditzy, Aphrodite girls had come up with that name for us and it had, sadly, stuck. Beckendorf reached out and shook my hand while Silena kissed my cheek.

"You guys transferred too?" I asked. Beckendorf nodded.

"Yup, senior year!" I was still a sophomore; Nico was a freshman (though he was young enough to still be in middle school. The wonders of the Mist…)

"This is going to be so great! It'll be just like camp, except in school! And hopefully not as many monsters." Silena said.

"One can only hope," Annabeth said wistfully. I nodded in agreement.

"Come hither, children!" Coach Xeno yelled. He was swim coach too, "We're doing something fun today!" Kids eyed the swords with fear, like the dull metal could actually hurt.

"Those swords were terribly forged," Beckendorf grumbled, "They couldn't slice through a carrot."

"That's probably the point," Silena said, "Slicing kids to pieces is frowned upon in mortal society." I laughed.

"Tell that to Annabeth," I said, she stuck her tongue out at me.

"Grab yourselves a sword, children! No killing!" Coach yelled and kids rushed to the rack to pick the "best" of them all. Beck had already thrown one at me, so I was good. The other three demigods walked leisurely to the swords.

"You ready to spar, Perce?" Trinity asked with light in her eyes. Trin would never hurt a fly, but swordplay was fun to all pacifists.

"You know it!"

Once everyone had a sword in their hand, Xeno called for two volunteers. Annabeth and I were best in the class, so naturally he picked us.

"Chase! Jackson! Get up here!" He barked in a very cliché coach voice, "Now, face each other." We did, "Have either of you ever sparred before?" He asked.

"Once or twice," Annabeth answered with a wink towards Beckendorf and Silena. They were smirking.

"You know the basics?" He asked. We nodded.

"Basically," Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Care to demonstrate?" Finally! I thought he'd never ask.

"With pleasure," Annabeth said and lunged forward. If I didn't know Annabeth so well, and had guessed she would try to cheat like this, I would have become an instant shish kebab a la Percy. Luckily, I was able to block her strike at the last second.

"Cheater," I accused her. She shrugged.

"Can't blame me for trying." She said and twisted our blades free. For a while we went back and forth, easily blocking each other. When things started getting dull, I tried something other than blocking. When her blade thrust forward, instead of blocking it, I sidestepped while at the same time using my foot to kick her blade up. It slipped from her hands up into the air where I caught it.

"A-ha!" I said, holding the two blades toward her, "Surrender?"

"Not a chance, Fish-Face!" She said and jumped up. Using the blades as a lever she kicked up, flipping over me, landing behind me. Before I could turn she kicked her foot up on one of the blades, making my grip on it loosen. It was in her hand, the point pressed to a spot between my shoulder blades. She wasn't stupid enough to show where my real Achilles spot was in front of a bunch of witnesses, even if they were mortals. The incident in English yesterday had been a lot more discreet.

"Where'd you learn _that?!_" I asked.

"I've had five more years of practice than you have, remember?" She let the blade drop. Bad move. In an instant I had my blade pressed underneath her chin.

"Never turn your back on an enemy, Annabeth." She grimaced. Her gloating had made her forget the most important rule of combat.

Sadly, I did the same thing. She still had her weapon. Gods, it was the island of the Sirens all over again! She jumped back and we hit blades. I was pretty strong, but so was she. Instead of wasting a few minutes trying to overpower her, I used the disarming technique Luke Castellan had taught me waaay back when he wasn't the evil Lord Kronos/dead. Her blade clattered to the floor.

"Yeah Percy!" Beckendorf whooped. I stooped down and retrieved Annabeth's sword.

"You were saying?" She rolled her eyes.

"One of these days, Percy, one of these days…"

"One or two times, right!" Coach said, "You two are some of the best swordsmen I've ever seen." He turned to face the rest of the class, "Partner up and start practicing." Beckendorf and I decided to go at it while Silena took on Annabeth. Surprise, surprise, Annabeth won. But not by much, Silena was pretty vicious for a daughter of the goddess of love.

Calypso and Victoria were in this class, but they skipped every other day. Today was one of those classes where they showed up halfway through with some excuse about homework.

"Beckendorf, Jackson, get 'em up to speed." Coach ordered. Annabeth grimaced, but said nothing as she continued fighting with Trinity.

As we walked, I warned Beckendorf about the two of them.

"Think of them as Drew's… minus the charmspeak." He nodded, completely prepared. Drew had made a move on him once but Silena had shut her up.

"We're spearing today? How exciting!" Victoria said stupidly as I handed her a sword.

"It's called sparring," I said. I was smarter than Victoria. So this is how Annabeth feels all the time…

"Riiiight, I knew that!" She said brightly. At that point Calypso decided to butt in.

"So how do we _spar?_" She put emphasis on the word, like it would impress me.

"Beckendorf, by the way." He introduced himself gruffly. They didn't even turn. Now that doesn't make sense, Beckendorf is a senior, and a lot of the girls at camp find him cute. We both have girlfriends that could kick these girls' butts, but apparently that didn't mean a thing to Calypso or Victoria. So why would they bother me instead? Girls are confusing.

"You hold the sword, and you try to get your opponent to drop theirs." I said.

"Percy could you show us?" Calypso asked in a voice she probably thought sounded sweet. It reminded me of Medusa in a way.

Without a word Beckendorf and I faced each other and gave them a quick, basic demonstration where neither of us were really trying.

"Wow Percy you're amazing!" She gushed. Obviously she had never lifted a finger in her life. Beckendorf was smiling. I was so gonna get it later…

"Uh thanks," I mumbled, "Anyways, you guys just do that and you're good." I said and dragged Beckendorf away.

"Nice job, Perce." He said appreciatively, "You're lucky you're in here with me and not the Stolls."

"Or Clarisse." I shuddered. I'd never live it down if she'd seen them!

"I can't believe Annabeth hasn't killed them yet." Beckendorf said.

"She's pretty close." I said, "If you ever catch her heading towards the girls locker room with a mortal weapon… on second thought, don't get in her way. We don't need extra fatalities." He grinned.

"Same goes for Silena. She looks like an angel, but she's got the bite of an _empousa_."

At the end of the hour we had barely broken a sweat while the rest of the class was panting harder than Mrs. O'Leary after shadow traveling to China (don't ask).

"Hit the showers, maggots." Coach Xeno tried to sound tough, but he really wasn't all that bad, "See you in practice, Jackson." I nodded towards him as I backed out of the gym.

"Where did _that _come from?!" Trinity exclaimed as we exited the gym.

"I guess I just picked it up somewhere." I said calmly.

"Picked it up? Are you kidding?" She said, "You guys could spear the entire class in a minute!" True, but still.

"I don't know about that…" She didn't let up.

"This is weird Percy, first you speak fluent Greek, then you can swordfight, plus all these new kids show up who you just happen to know from this weird camp that nobody knows the name of…"

"All a coincidence. I have to change, see you at lunch!" I called over my shoulder and raced to the boys locker room.

* * *

***Beckendorf and Silena lived in this one**


	7. Three More Plus a Punch

**Annabeth POV**

"Be careful at lunch today," Percy warned me as we walked to the cafeteria.

"Why what happened?" Oh Percy if you messed something up…

"Trinity's suspicious." I stopped walking.

"Suspicious as in she thinks we're you-know-what's, or suspicious as in she only knows something's up?"

"She knows we're different." He said. I bit my lip.

"I'll damage control," I said, "It'll be fine." He looked doubtful. I reached up and kissed him, "Trust me, have I ever been wrong?"

"You used to think that I had a crush on Rachel," He pointed out.

"Oh, so you didn't? That hurts, Perce, that really hurts." An extremely familiar, future-seeing, red head said in mock hurt.

"Rachel!" Percy's face broke into a grin and hugged her. I wasn't jealous anymore; Rachel was Oracle so, by definition, no dating. She might as well be a Hunter.

"Thanks for waiting up for us, _Annabeth_," She shook her head in disappointment.

"I was tired!" I defended myself as I reached out for a hug, "Mr. Hero over here didn't want to do his homework." She laughed.

"He can go up against a Titan on top of Mt. Olympus but he can't do homework?"

"Dyslexia! Thank you very much," Percy pouted.

"I've got dyslexia too, you know." He said nothing. I won.

"Lets just go to lunch, shall we?" Rachel said. I nodded and grasped Percy's hand.

"Ok, but watch what you say. Mortals are suspecting something." She nodded, probably already knowing.

"Keeping demigodly talk to a minimum." She said and mimed zipping her lips.

* * *

I was surprised to find all of our demigod friends sitting with Percy's mortal friends. I guess Silena had recognized Trinity from gym class and everyone else had flocked to the familiar faces.

Katie and Trinity were listening intently to Silena as she whispered something or other. It was likely about boys. Katie had started dating Travis Stoll just a few weeks before me and Percy had gotten together. They were a cute couple, but really unexpected. The Demeter cabin had been the Stoll's main target over the summer. One second they were at each other's throats and the next Juniper finds the two of them kissing near Zeus's Fist. I guess Percy and I could be like that sometimes.

And then there was Trinity who had been pining over Hayden for quite some time apparently. Hayden must be as dense as a brick. Even Grover and Percy had noticed on their own, and he had yet to. I suppose she needed a miracle. A miracle, or the help of a child of Aphrodite.

The Stoll's, on the other hand, were exchanging drachmas underneath the table with poor Nico. Nico was only thirteen but he seemed so much older. I had a suspicion that he was crushing on me, but even the King of Ghosts wouldn't go up against Percy over me. **(True fact, MoA)**

Juniper and Grover were staring at each other with googly eyes while Thalia mimed gagging to Beckendorf and Hayden. I wonder if Percy and I look like that…

"Look out, your ADHD's showing." He snickered. I realized I hadn't spoken for a few minutes. I elbowed his arm and the three of us walked over to the table.

"Well look at that, Percy found Rachel!" Thalia said and fake clapped.

"It's about time." Grover said.

"Rachel! I thought you went to Clarion?" Trinity said with excitement as she jumped up to hug Rachel. Oh yeah, Rachel used to go to Goode…

"I was kicked out." She shrugged. Finishing school, Rachel, not a good mix.

"How many of you guys transferred here, exactly?" Hayden asked, looking at all the new kids sitting around him. Percy and I sat down beside Grover.

"Lets see… Beckendorf, Silena, Rachel, Thalia, Nico, Travis, Connor, Katie… ten." I counted.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're off by two." He said. I smirked knowingly.

"She's right, you're wrong, move over Prissy." Said the daughter of Ares who had first greeted Percy by shoving his face in a toilet.

"Clarisse too?" Percy said in shock as she took a place at the table with us.

"Don't forget me," Her surprisingly patient boyfriend, Chris, said as he lightly sat beside her. I couldn't tell if Percy was scared, surprised, or confused. Maybe a little bit of everything.

"Oh gods, are there any more?" Percy asked. I laughed and shook my head.

"Happy extremely late birthday, Seaweed Brain." I said and kissed his cheek, "Or early Christmas. Whatever works."

"Wow, Perce, you've got a lot of friends." Hayden said.

"No, we're not friends." Clarisse grumbled.

"Gee thanks," He said sarcastically, "Good to see you too."

"So you all met at camp?" Trinity asked. We all nodded.

"And you're all from everywhere all around the country?" She clarified. We simply nodded again. The fewer details we gave, the better.

"So why did you all transfer here so suddenly?" She asked. I figured someone would ask this at some point. I'd been working on my response for days now.

"Our camp has this new program going on that we need to be nearby for. Percy's school is closest so we decided to come here for the year." She nodded, totally buying it.

"Percy, Percy!" A shrill voice yelped.

"Oh gods, she still goes here?" Rachel moaned as Calypso strut up with a wide smile.

"You will _never _guess what just happened!" She said to him with excitement.

"Who's the girly?" Clarisse asked through a mouthful of chips. Calypso's top lip curled in disgust like a cat.

"Calypso Cielo," She said, "But as I was saying…"

"You're irritating, walk away." Clarisse said. With anyone who actually knew Clarisse, that would be the end of the conversation. Calypso didn't get the hint.

"Excuse me, I wasn't talking to you." She said rudely. Oh boy, "Anyways Percy…"

"Are you trying to get killed here, girl?" Clarisse said. Her voice was tense. This was so bad, just so bad. Calypso laughed.

"What're you gonna do?"

"You sure you want to push me?" Clarisse yelled and stood up, knocking over a soda.

"Uh oh, I made Ugly mad." Calypso said sarcastically, "My cat's scarier than you,"

"That's it!" Clarisse lunged at her, knocking her to the floor.

"Kick her butt Clarisse!" Rachel cheered. The rest of the table stood to get a better look at the fight while the rest of the lunchroom broke into applause and appreciation for Clarisse.

_I should be stopping this, _I thought. It was just so entertaining watching Clarisse La Rue punch Calypso in the face as she flailed her arms around uselessly. I found myself cheering the Ares Girl on.

"Yeah Clarisse!" Percy looked at me with wide eyes.

"Annabeth!"

"What?" I asked with annoyance. He just looked at me, "Fine." I grumbled and got up to help him pull Clarisse off of the screaming girl.

"You made your point! Off!" I yelled as I dragged Clarisse off. If you've ever stopped a daughter of Ares mid-fight… well, just don't ever do it. All sorts of colorful profanities poured from Clarisse's mouth, both in Greek and English. Chris took her arm and pulled her up to her feet while I joined Percy out of the range of her fists. Calypso lay on the floor still with a bloody nose, puffy eye, and too many bruises to count. Her hair looked like a mop and I was pretty sure Clarisse had bitten her. I honestly tried to get the smile off of my face…

"She hit me!" No duh.

"You egged her on!" I argued. Calypso ignored me as she wailed on.

"Eeewww, look at my hair!" She screeched as Victoria rushed over to blot the blood off of her face with a tissue.

"I don't see a difference." I muttered angrily. Percy squeezed my shoulders as Calypso looked up at me with nothing but pure hatred.

"Why don't you just go back to where you came from, Blondie! You _ruined_ everything!" She squealed as she got to her feet, "Percy would have been mine _that day_ if you hadn't showed up! Go back to your hole you ugly, whiney, selfish little female dog!" Yeah… she didn't really say female dog.

Anger heated up in my stomach and spread throughout my entire body. Steam was coming out of my ears.

"I'm gonna kill her," I growled, "I'M GONNA KILL HER!" I yelled. Percy wrapped his arms tightly around my waist as I kicked and scratched to get away, "LET GO!" I yelled. He only hugged me tighter, cutting off my access to my dagger. It wouldn't hurt her; it'd just scare her out of her skinny jeans.

"Not here, not now," He said urgently in my ear. He knew I'd kill her for real right here in this cafeteria. I kicked against his shins, but he still wouldn't let up. Stupid curse of Achilles!

"Get your hands off me now Percy!" I said viciously, "Let go now or I swear to the gods I will…" Profanities just as bad as Clarisse's were thrown from my mouth. I'm not sure whom they were directed at exactly. All I knew was that I was _mad_.

"What is going on here?" A mature voice yelled as it entered the cafeteria. I barely saw Coach Xeno enter I was so mad. My vision was tunneled on Calypso, blinking to make alligator tears come out. That little…

"Annabeth beat me up, Coach!" She wailed. I froze, and stopped fighting against Percy for a second. His arms froze too. I winced as Hayden's water bottle exploded in his hand.

"What? No I didn't! I was close, but I didn't!" Xeno frowned.

"Percy, Annabeth, Calypso. My office. Now." He said shortly. Nobody spoke a word against Clarisse, for fear she would beat them up to probably. It was Clarisse herself who stepped forward. It was unlike an Ares to give up credit for their fight, so this was only to be expected.

"I'm the one that beat her up! I get to go too!" She said. Even Xeno looked scared, so he allowed her to come along.

* * *

The four of us sat on the metal bench in his office as he rubbed his bald spot.

"Cielo, tell me your side." She pretended to wipe a tear away.

"I came over to say hi. And then Annabeth got up, and she knocked me over. She started hitting me, and… and…" She burst into the worst fit of fake tears I had ever seen.

"Jackson, your turn." Percy told him the truth. So did I, so did Clarisse.

"La Rue, detention after school all week with me." He said, "Calypso, you too." She looked up in shock.

"I'm the victim here!"

"Yes, but you lied." He said calmly, "End of discussion. Now go to class and leave me alone."


	8. A Brand New Olympus

**Percy POV**

"Why did you stop me?" Annabeth said with irritation as we walked home to her apartment that day, "You heard what she said to me!"

"How could I not?" I had been ready to kill Calypso when she called Annabeth what she had. But, as Silena had said, killing mortals was frowned upon, "But I couldn't let you rip her head off in front of a room of witnesses." She kicked a pebble ahead of her.

"I wouldn't have killed her." She mumbled guiltily, knowing full well she was lying. I moved my arm around her waist.

"Sure you wouldn't have." She rolled her eyes as we walked into her building. All of us were gonna hang out at the apartment camp was paying for today. Everyone else made excuses to stay late at school so that they wouldn't get stuck walking home with Annabeth while she's so mad. But as the boyfriend, it was my job to console her… plus I couldn't think of an excuse not to.

Annabeth grumbled to herself as she unlocked the door and stepped inside. I followed her, not daring to interrupt her anger.

The apartment was pretty standard. The four bedrooms were a lot larger than normal so that they could share. There were two bathrooms, one for the guys and one for the girls. Annabeth's desk was pushed into the corner of the living room next to the window.

"The Stoll's and Nico in that room, Beckendorf, Grover, and Chris in that one." Annabeth pointed, "Then me, Rachel, Thalia, and Juniper in that one. Silena, Clarisse, and Katie in the other." We walked into the room she shared. It was pretty obvious who slept where. One bed had a blanket covered in sharpie drawings on it and the wall already had numerous paintings tacked on. Junipers bed had a vase of flowers on the nightstand and it was underneath the window overlooking the small bunch of trees in the back. Thalia's hunter gear was covering her bed, and pictures of her and the other Hunters were hung.

Annabeth fell down onto her bed and covered her eyes with her arm. Books scattered the floor and a bunch of diagrams were tacked to the wall beside her bed. I pushed a copy of _the Odyssey_ to the side and sat next to her. She didn't move. I poked her side.

"Percy, not now." She mumbled. So I poked her again, "Percy, quit it."

"No." Poke.

"You're so immature." She said and moved her arm. She looked up at me with her grey eyes.

"That's why you love me," I said with a cheeky grin. A small smile flashed to her face and she sat up.

"If you say so, Seaweed Brain." She stretched her neck and kissed me while she wove her arms around my neck.

"Are you still mad?" I asked quietly.

"Very," She mumbled, "But not really at you. I'm mad at Calypso." No, duh.

"We're home! Everyone decent?" Thalia asked loudly. The front door slammed shut and multiple footsteps sounded as everyone entered. I stood and held out my hand for Annabeth, who accepted.

"Har har, you're hilarious." I said sarcastically as we walked into the kitchen/living room sort of area. The two rooms were only separated by a wall as tall as my ribcage, so were they really different?

Eh, who cares? The point I'm getting at is that Annabeth and I walked into this area, and sat at barstools at the counter on the half wall thing.

"Hayden, Trinity." Annabeth said with a bit of surprise. I looked over to my pair of mortal friends sitting on the floor of the living room.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I said. Hayden shrugged, Trinity mimicked the motion. The two of them were really cute together. If only Hayden would just see that Trin had a crush on him.

Ugh, Aphrodite's been messing with my brain.

"We invited them over to get to know us better." Katie said. Get to know us, convince them we're not freaks, tomato, tomahto.

Everyone gathered around. Beckendorf and Silena sat side by side underneath the TV while Grover and Juniper seated themselves on the window seat. Thalia perched on one of the couch armrests and Rachel took the other, leaving the Stolls and Katie on the couch. Chris and Clarisse sat down at their feet and Nico sat cross-legged in the corner.

"So you guys all live here without any adults?" Hayden clarified. Technically Grover was a middle-aged adult, but we didn't mention that.

"Yup," Chris said.

"That is _sweet!"_ Hayden and Chris started talking about the pros and cons of living alone, blocking out everyone else.

"So tell me more about this camp you guys go to." Trinity said. The question was innocent enough, but it made us all tense.

"Well…"

"Um…"

"It's kind of…"

"It's… uh…" We all stammered about nothing for a while.

"It's a camp for dyslexics, and ADHD." Annabeth finally said. We all agreed. Trinity nodded slowly.

"Oh cool." She said awkwardly, "So it's a camp designed for kids with dyslexia and ADHD that teaches sword fighting and Greek?" She asked. Holy Hades, you'd think between all of us we could come up with a better lie!

"The swordplay stuff helps our ADHD. It keeps us moving and active." Silena explained.

"As for the Greek, our director of activities is of Greek decent, so he likes to have the campers learn Greek." Rachel added in. Well, Mr. D was definitely of Greek decent…

"That makes sense." Trinity said.

"Can you believe what Calypso did today?" Annabeth said, changing the topic quickly.

"You're welcome, by the way." Clarisse said gruffly.

"Clarisse that was awesome what you did." Connor admitted.

"It's about time someone punched that girl." Hayden said, "She's been bugging Percy all year. If I have to hear 'Oh Percy!' one more time…"

"Not. Helping." I hissed, jerking my head towards Annabeth.

"It's fine, Percy." She said quickly, "I agree, she really needs to get the message that you aren't interested." You could almost see the plan forming in her brain.

"I think I pounded the message into her pretty good today," Clarisse pointed out.

"No, we need something even bigger." Annabeth said, "She won't give in just because she was beat up."

"If you're talking about tricks and stuff, we got that equipment," Travis said mischievously. Connor nodded excitedly.

"I got this great idea for a prank earlier this week!" Annabeth considered that.

"It'll likely involve some trickery, yes." She tapped a finger against her lips, "She needs to be humbled, and embarrassed, and hospitalized…"

"Annabeth," I said disapprovingly. She held up her hands.

"If she has a tragic accident…"

"Annabeth!" I repeated. She glared.

"You can't tell me what to do, Kelp Head." She snapped, "If I want to maim a…"

"Anyways!" Beckendorf said loudly before Annabeth could say the word "mortal" in front of Trinity and Hayden, "She needs to get the message that she can never win over Percy. Now how exactly do we do this?"

"Scare the living daylights out of her," Thalia suggested.

"I like it!" Annabeth said.

"We have some hair dye left over from when we pranked Percy." Trinity said.

"Seriously, what happened with the hair dye?" Annabeth asked me. I blushed, remembering the incident.

"I'll tell you later." I lied. She cocked an eyebrow, but didn't say anything else about it.

"To plot a devious plan, we need brain food." Grover said, and trotted to the kitchen with his crutches under his arms, "I'm making popcorn, who wants some?" There were a bunch of muttered "yes's" and "yeah's".

You know things are serious when Annabeth pulls out her graph paper to plan. We were lying on our stomachs in the center of the floor drawing a schematic of the school and the neighborhood around it.

At some point in the middle of all this planning, our evil plotting turned into a popcorn war, which Annabeth won, of course.

By sometime around ten we had our plan completed, ready for execution Monday morning. I'd just have to deal with Calypso for another few days…

"And you're absolutely positive that you don't want to come over tonight?" I asked Annabeth as I was walking out of her apartment. Hayden and Trinity had left a half hour earlier, and everyone else was going about their nightly activities.

"It's after ten, Seaweed Brain. I'm pretty sure." She said with a smirk, "But thanks for the offer."

"It was worth a shot," I shrugged. She laughed.

"I'll be at your apartment tomorrow morning, so be awake."

"Not a chance." I said, "But feel free to help yourself to breakfast." Again, she laughed.

"Goodnight," She said and leaned in to kiss me goodnight with her palm pressed to my cheek. I bent in to deepen the kiss just as something to our side flashed.

"Aw! You guys are adorable, this is going to the Aphrodite Cabin hall of fame." Silena said with a smirk, holding up a camera. We jumped, our cheeks a matching shade of red.

"Is there no privacy?" Annabeth muttered. Silena laughed.

"Don't kiss in the middle of the room if you don't want to be caught on camera."

* * *

"Pleeeeeeaaaaase?" I begged as we walked up to the building, "Lets just go do something way less dangerous like running with scissors, or slipping Grover bacon, or stealing Thalia's arrows."

"Percy come on, don't you want to see the love of my life?" Annabeth said, pushing open the door of the Empire State Building.

"I thought that _I _was the love of your life?" I said. She shook her head.

"I have been working on Olympus for months, it's very possible I love it more than you right now. Six-hundredth floor please." She said quickly to the guy at the desk. He looked up from his book.

"There is no six hundredth floor, kid." He said stubbornly, like always. Annabeth pursed her lips.

"I am Annabeth Chase, official architect of Olympus. I was here nearly everyday this past summer. This is Percy Jackson, savior of Olympus, killer of the Titan Kronos? Do you really have to say that every single time we come in here?" She argued. He shrugged.

"It's all in the job description," He said, and handed her the key card, "Have a nice trip up, Ms. Architect, Savior of Olympus." Note the sarcasm. What a nice fellow.

"Are you going to change the music in this elevator?" I asked as we went up.

"I've tried, but Apollo's pretty adamant on keeping it here. Since he's the god of music…" I grimaced as we were forced to listen to the terrible oldies music. I noticed Annabeth was fingering her old camp necklace the way she does when she's nervous.

"What's wrong?" I asked. She let go of her dad's college ring.

"I just haven't been up here for a few months. I'm worried something went wrong and it'll be too late to fix it, or maybe they've completely changed their vision and I have to start over, or even…" She started rambling about support beams and statues until I got the guts to interrupt her.

"It'll all be beautiful, I know it." I assured her.

"How can you be so sure?" She asked. I reached out and intertwined our fingers. Wasn't it obvious?

"Because, you built it." I said simply. A little bit of pink went into the tips of her ears. Instead of answering me, she reached up and kissed me. Her hair smelled nice. How in Hades did she get it so soft?

"Hmph," A voice coughed. My heart stopped and I took a good step back to see the elevator doors open, and Lady Athena herself standing on the other side.

"Mother!" Annabeth wasn't just pink; she was turning the same color as one of Apollo's sacred cows.

"Annabeth, Perseus." She greeted us coldly, "If you can refrain from swallowing each other long enough to speak with me, that would be lovely." And I thought Annabeth angry was scary.

"Yes, Mother." Annabeth said humbly. Athena turned and walked calmly down the stone pathway leading to Olympus.

And that's when I got my first sight of Annabeth's creation.

It was… amazing doesn't even cover it! Glittering marble temples rose up from the hills, clear water flowed from saltwater fountains. We were far away, but I could still see gardens filled with bright flowers, statues dotted the landscape.

"Your mouth's hanging open," Annabeth said smugly. I snapped my jaw shut.

"Gods Annabeth, it's… wow." And it was. She was nearly bursting with pride. Her hubris wasn't totally uncalled for.

The three of us walked up the stone path to the beautiful new Olympus. As we walked through the streets up to the Throne Room, Annabeth pointed around and talked about different statues she was proud of, how finicky Ares had been, the places that still needed construction. For the first time I was actually listening to her ramble on. She was so excited and happy, it made me smile. Then entire time Athena was smiling slightly with pride at her daughter.

We walked into the throne room, which had completely been redone. Not only were all twelve thrones restored, there were smaller thrones to represent the minor gods circling the outside ring of the twelve thrones. Most of the gods were out today, it was only Athena, my dad, and… ugh, Aphrodite. The goddess gestured to me and Annabeth's connected hands and winked. Blushing, we took a step apart. It was weird, usually Aphrodite's look shifted around to look like a lot of different forms of beauty. Today, her form stayed pretty firm on blonde hair and grey eyes… wait a second…

She still couldn't hold a flame to Annabeth.

"Percy!" Poseidon boomed happily, "What brings you up here?"

"Oh isn't it obvious?" Aphrodite said excitedly, "He's here with Annabeth! Oh I _knew_ I did good with those two!"

"Now is not the time, Aphrodite," Athena said sternly.

"Hi, Dad." I muttered. He grinned at me.

"I'm just here to check up on construction and Percy tagged along." Annabeth explained.

"Tagged along, was blackmailed, either way I'm here." She elbowed me, the polite smile never wavering, "I never said I didn't want to see the new Olympus!" I protested. Aphrodite giggled.

"Ah, young love." She sighed. Poseidon coughed awkwardly.

"Annabeth, why don't we discuss project updates while young Mr. Jackson talks to his father." Athena said, and led my girlfriend away.

Poseidon shrunk down to regular human size and walked up to me, trident in hand.

"Hello, Percy." He said with a crinkly-eyed smile, "Care to visit the Ophiotaurus? Annabeth made him a nice alcove where the younger gods won't try to use him as a beach ball again." He chuckled.

"Have fun, Percy! Don't forget, the anniversary of you and Annabeth's twenty-second date is coming up!" Aphrodite called as Poseidon led me down a side hall to a small room where the Ophiotaurus swam happily in his big ball of water.

"I'm sorry, but Athena made me do this." He said abruptly, "She wants me to talk to you about Annabeth." I winced.

"Please tell me she isn't going to kill me." My voice was an octave higher than usual. He shook his head.

"No, no, no, nothing like that." He said, and at down in a chair I could have sworn wasn't there a second ago, "Take a seat," He gestured to a folding chair I was positive hadn't been there.

"What about Annabeth, exactly?" I asked. He started twiddling his thumbs.

"Well… she's just worried that you and Annabeth aren't a good… fit." I raised an eyebrow.

"But you don't think that, right?" His eyes widened.

"Oh no, I think you're lucky Annabeth agreed to go out with you in the first place."

"Hey!" Well, he wasn't wrong.

"But anyways, Athena believes that Annabeth should be paired with someone smarter, more sophisticated, you know?" He explained.

"So, Savior of Olympus isn't good enough?" I translated.

"It's good enough, just not the right kind of good." He said awkwardly, "She asked me to talk you into either getting a job at a museum or something, or dumping Annabeth. Both of which I realize you will not be doing. She should know this conversation is pointless." He said. I shifted uncomfortably in the chair.

The talk wasn't totally pointless. It definitely got me thinking about Annabeth. Why was she dating me anyways? I wasn't her type. Come to think of it she only showed interest in me when she felt threatened by something like Rachel or a bunch of Telkhines, was she first attracted to me out of jealousy? At this moment I knew she loved me, but had the two of us started out of her own territorial emotions? The end result had definitely worked to my advantage, but it was a little unnerving to think that Annabeth wouldn't have ever gone out with me if it hadn't been for threats.

"Percy, what are you thinking?" Poseidon asked. I just shrugged.

"Nothing," It wasn't unheard of from me.

"Percy?" Annabeth's voice echoed from the throne room, I jumped up on instinct.

"Well, good talk, Dad." I said. He smirked.

"Don't worry too much about it, Percy. Aphrodite is rooting for the two of you." He joked. I grimaced.

"All the more reason to worry." She liked tragic love stories.


	9. Uh oh

**A/N ****So I completely revised this chapter because I did not like it whatsoever, it was terrible. So, here is the new and improved Chapter 9! I decided to mix in another common cliche with this one -two birds with one stone! **

**And before anyone asks, no this is not a Thalico story and I don't plan on turning it into that! **

* * *

** Annabeth POV**

Construction of Olympus was going well. There were only a few mistakes that had happened and they could easily be fixed within the week. The only downside was that as my mother led me around the city, many of the gods decided to drop in and give me new "ideas". That meant that I had a lot of work to do for the next few weeks.

On our way back to the throne room, mom kept dropping hints about Percy.

"Does Perseus have a job?"

"How are his current grades?"

"Has Mr. Jackson looked into colleges yet?"

"Have you met that lovely young man in the Apollo cabin yet?"

"Mother," I finally interrupted her when she started to talk about his future career at the movie theater, "If you have something you wish to say about Percy, I'd appreciate it if you told me outright." It was tough to keep my tone level. Athena huffed.

"Annabeth, I do not approve of you and Mr. Jackson's relationship." She said. Well I knew that!

"His name is Percy." I said, "And whether you approve of it or not does not play a factor in my decision to date him." I said firmly.

"He is an uneducated imbecile!"

"He loves me, and the feeling is mutual. Are your feelings for Lord Poseidon clouding your ability to see people clearly for who they are?" Her nostrils flared in anger.

"You are in no position to judge me in such a way, Annabeth." Her voice was deadly calm and cold. Fear was making goose bumps come up on my arms, but I held my ground.

"Percy has yet to do something wrong. As a matter of fact he has been nothing but good to me as well as all of you here on Olympus."

"Did he ever tell you about Rachel?" Athena asked.

"If you're talking about the time she kissed him, then yes he did." I said confidently. When he'd first told me about that, I wasn't mad. It was right after we'd first started dating, so I was in such a state of bliss and disbelief that I had only said, "You picked me in the end," and that was that. Maybe he wasn't so stupid after all. If he'd told me about that at any other time, he would have been a dead man.

Athena looked _mad. _

"Mother," I said gently, "There's nothing you can say that will change my mind. Now, thank you for the progress report, I will be back in a week or so to check up again." I said, and brushed past her to walk into the throne room, "Percy?" I called. His sneakers slapped against the marble as he jogged into the room with that goofy grin on his face that made my heart thump a mile a minute.

"Aw, listen to that heartbeat!" Aphrodite hadn't moved from her throne apparently. The _Bachelor_ was playing on a small television set connected to the armrest, but her eyes were trained on the two of us, "Oh, am I glad I paired the two of you up! Not only will your kids be absolutely beautiful, they'll be brilliant and powerful as well!" If she thought my heartbeat was fast then, she should hear it now. The blush rushed up to my cheeks, and I didn't dare look at Percy.

"We must be going, good afternoon Lady Aphrodite." I muttered, and grabbed Percy's hand, pulling him out of there.

"I'd better get an invite to the wedding!" She yelled after us.

* * *

"Well that was..."

"Yeah..." Saying things were awkward in the elevator was an understatement. We could not look at each other, and after a few mumbles about the weather we didn't speak either. To think that Aphrodite was thinking so far ahead! It wasn't until we were out the building and down the street did I finally break the ice.

"Let's just... forget about Aphrodite," I suggested. For the first time since we were up on Olympus, he grinned at me.

"That's the best idea you've had all day." He laughed and twisted his fingers with mine. We bumped shoulders.

"Agreed, then." I sighed with content as we walked, "So what now?" He tapped his chin as though deep in thought (which he wasn't, of course).

"Why don't we spend a day hanging out at the apartment?" He suggested, "You know, just relax. It's not like we have anything else to do." On the contrary, I had about a thousand blueprints to finish. They would likely be the focus of my attention for the next couple of weeks. Today was probably my last day to just be with Percy. What better way to spend it than doing absolutely nothing?

"That sounds perfect."

* * *

What a shock, we got my apartment just as an argument was brewing.

"I so could!"

"Not!" Yet another shock: it was Thalia and Nico doing the fighting. All of our camp friends, plus Trinity and Hayden, lounged about in the living room watching the fight unfurl.

"What's it about this time?" I sighed as Percy pulled us to the couch. Hayden turned to us and shrugged.

"Beats me," he answered, "One second we're ordering a pizza, the next they're yelling at each other in Greek." I rolled my eyes. Great job, Thalia, yell about godly things in front of mortals in fluent Greek. Like they don't already suspect us! I put two fingers in my mouth and whistled, silencing the children of the two Big Three.

"That's enough!" I said, "Whatever issues you two have, sort them out when we don't have company!" Nico muttered an apology, and Thalia rolled her eyes.

"There's nothing else to do around here anyways," She muttered, "At least we provided some entertainment."

"Well, how about a game of truth or dare?" Silena suggested. At this, Clarisse burst out laughing.

"Do I look like I'm in sixth grade?" She snorted. Sixth grade is about the time most demigods start training for survival at camp. We don't get much time for truth or dare. This fact was absolutely fine by me.

"I vote we just watch TV or something," I said. Percy nodded in agreement.

"Hear, hear!"

In the end, Percy and I were outvoted. Clarisse gave in, Chris followed suit. Thalia and Nico looked ready to get back at each other with some nasty dares. I'm pretty sure everyone else just didn't want to go against Clarisse.

"Thalia, you first." Silena said.

"Nico," She said immediately, "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," There was fear in his eyes. Dare was just too risky when it came to an angry Thalia. She pursed her lips in disappointment, but continued.

"Have you ever crushed on a girl," She said with a resigned sigh. It was such a common question for her.

"Yes," He said nonchalantly.

"Who?" Percy asked in surprise. Nico never had been a very lovey-dovey kid.

"Question didn't ask for a who." He said, turning just the slightest bit pink, "But anyways, Clarisse, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" It was unlike a child of Ares to back down from a challenge.

"I dare you to... keep all insults to yourself for the rest of the game." He announced. Considering the fact that she insisted on calling my boyfriend Prissy every other sentence, this dare could actually be interesting. Clarisse mumbled something to herself, but didn't chicken out.

"Jackson, truth or dare?" She asked.

"Truth," Even Percy wasn't stupid enough to take a dare from Clarisse.

"Did you ever get a girl before Annabeth?" She asked. Huh, I suppose I'd never thought about it. He'd always been the school loser before Goode as far as I'd witnessed.

Percy only shook his head, "Nope," Way to waste a truth, Clarisse, "Nico!" Saw that one coming, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare!" Nico said immediately, adamant to tell us about his ex-crush apparently, though I was pretty sure it was me.

"Fine then, I dare you to tell us who your old crush was." Percy said. Nico groaned and started muttering under his breath.

"When I first met Annabeth I had a little crush on her. But hey, I was twelve! My judgement was all jacked up."

"Hey!" Percy and I both said at the same time.

"Truth or dare, Thalia!" Nico said quickly. He was blushing. The poor kid just didn't have the thing in his head that told him what not to say.

"Dare, bring it, di Angelo." Thalia answered bravely. His grin reminded me of the Grinch. This would not end well...

"I dare you to go out that door, and kiss the first male you see on the street." He said. This was one of the few times I had seen Thalia go pale.

"You know I can't do that!" Trinity and Hayden looked confused. Oh yeah, they didn't know Thalia was a Hunter. She couldn't break her oath, she was Lieutenant!

"That's an unfair one, Nico." I scolded. He pouted.

"Fine," He spit, "Thalia, I'm going to go make a nice drink for you." He said, and stood up. She shivered.

"I'm really starting to regret this..." She uttered, "In the meantime, Trinity." She said, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare!" It was hard to notice her eyes flicker to Hayden for just a moment. Thalia caught this, and planned her dare accordingly.

"I dare you to kiss Hayden," She said smugly. It was hard to miss the pure joy that erupted in Trin's eyes. Hayden just looked confused, and shocked. Ugh, boys! Trinity pretended to roll her eyes.

"Do I have to?" She asked half-heartedly.

"Yes," Thalia said, "Three seconds on the clock, go." There was no possible way Hayden missed the blush in her cheeks as she turned to look at him.

"Sorry about this," She said quickly before tilting her head and kissing him full on the lips. He looked so much like Percy on our first kiss.

"3...2.." With one second left Hayden closed his eyes and gently touched Trinity's cheek. I nudged Percy with a smirk. He was grinning at his two mortal best friends.

"1, break it up love birds." Thalia said. Trinity moved her face back an inch, but Hayden's hand was still on her face. Now it was his turn to blush.

"Uh..." he said awkwardly, "Sorry." With that he took his hand back. They both turned they heads so that they weren't looking at each other anymore, but it was so obvious that the kiss sparked something. Trinity had a feverish light in her dark eyes, and Hayden had the smallest grin lighting his face.

Nico walked back in holding a cup of suspicious brown liquid, "Drink up, Thalia!" He said as he thrust the cup towards her. She wrinkled her nose and gingerly held the cup.

"Fine... but if this kills me, I'm haunting you for all eternity!" She could do it too, Nico liked talking to dead people. He just rolled his eyes.

"Drink. Now." Grimace in place, Thalia pinched her nose and chugged the glass. She came up coughing and spitting.

"EW! What was in that?!" She screeched between gags.

"One of those diet chocolate milkshakes, some mustard, a little bit of cottage cheese, Tabasco sauce, a squeeze of ketchup, some salt, and a some cinnamon." He counted on his fingers. Thalia stood with her fist outstretched.

"When I get done gagging, you are _so_ gonna get it Death Boy!"

"Come at me, Sparky!"

"Go wash your mouth out," Silena said, "Then you can kill Nico. But while you're doing that, back to the game." Thalia grumbled and went to rinse her mouth out as Nico took her spot in the circle, "Trinity, your turn."

"Katie, truth or dare?" She asked, still red from her dare.

"Truth, I don't feel like getting up." Katie answered.

"Tell us how you and Travis got together." Trinity said. I'd heard the story a million times already. A million and one wouldn't make a difference.

"Him and Connor had just pranked my cabin, right? So I went over to his cabin to yell at him. Connor was out, and for some reason Travis was alone. I was yelling at him, and throwing things at him..." In reality she had been making some nasty vines grow around his ankles, but she couldn't tell them that, "... and all of a sudden he runs up and kisses me." Katie finished. Silena awed for dramatic affect.

"Ok, your turn, Katie." She instructed.

"Juniper," She said, "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," She said quietly.

"Have you ever accused Grover of cheating on you?" Katie asked. The slightest tinge of green went up to her ears.

"Well there was that one time..." She said.

"I told you that was nothing!" Grover bleated, "Come on Juniper, you're the only tr... er, I mean girl, for me." She hugged him in response.

"Bleh, enough with all this mushy stuff!" Thalia groaned as she walked back in, "Lets see some hardcore dares!" Juniper sighed.

"Fine, Annabeth, pick dare." I would have anyways. I mean come on, it was Juniper.

"Ok, dare." I said. She pointed out the window.

"There's a twelve year old kid out on the street with his little buddies. I so dare you to go up, and use your cheesiest pick-up line on him." She laughed. I crawled to look out the window at the subject. There was a group of four little boys playing with trading cards out at the bus stop. Wow, Nico flashback...

"Ok, be right back." I said. I kissed Percy's cheek, and then walked out the door, down the steps, and approached the boy in the middle. He was wearing a big, baggy t-shirt with the Pokemon logo on it, and he had a serious case of acne. The jaws of his three little friends dropped to the ground when I walked up and tapped his shoulder. The kid's eyes lit up like the camp fire after Capture the Flag.

"Hi, I'm Annabeth." I said. He was at least two feet shorter than me, so I was actually tilting my head to look down at him.

"I-I-I'm T-t-t-Tommy." He stuttered. I almost felt bad doing this to him. I remembered how awkward I'd felt around Luke at this age: intimidated, un-worthy, lame...

"Nice to meet you, Tommy." I said, "So, do you come here often?" I asked. His little groupies started snickering behind their hands, and whispering to one another. Oh this was so bad...

"I uh... I..." Tommy started to blush like crazy. He sort of reminded me of Percy. He was just that awkward. The least I could do was give him something to brag about to his friends. I bent down and kissed his cheek. The groupies started slapping each others arms with their mouths hanging open!

"Nice to meet you, Tommy." I said with a wink. All he could do was stare at with eyes the size of saucers. Before he could say anything else, I was back in the building.

"Juniper, I hate you!" I said as I ran back in. She had her head leaning on Grover's shoulder, laughing so loudly she was waking up the trees in Central Park! In fact, everyone was laughing at me. Only Percy was even attempting to keep a straight face.

"You're not leaving me for that kid, are you?" He asked with fake worry. Rolling my eyes, I reclaimed my place by his side. To answer his question, I put my arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Maybe..."

"Shut up," He said and kissed me back.

"I thought I said no more mushy stuff!"


	10. Green Hair

**A/N Because I totally changed the last chapter, I changed the beginning of this one too. It's not much, but it's something. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Percy POV**

"Annabeth, can't I do something else in this plan?" I whined. She shook her head.

"Sorry sweetie, but the bigger her ego, the harder she'll fall. What better way to inflate it farther than it will ever inflate?" Says she who doesn't have to do it.

"Please?" I gave her the puppy dog eyes. Now normally she couldn't resist them, but this time she held her ground.

"Don't even try that on me, Percy." She said, not looking up from her book. I pouted.

"If you're not letting me off the hook, will you at least write the first paragraph of my English essay for me?" She sighed.

"Hand it over..."

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

It really wasn't all that intricate of a plan. In fact, it was so simple that there was almost no way it wouldn't work. That day for gym we were swimming, and I knew for a fact that Calypso and Victoria liked to wash their hair, and redo their makeup after class. Sneaking the Stolls into the girl's locker room with the hair dye was simple; getting them to leave… well lets just say Clarisse was a big help.

* * *

**Travis POV**

"This plan really could use some embellishment." I told my brother as we squeezed the green dye into Calypso's shampoo bottle. She really needed to get a more complicated lock than just the simple combination padlock. Even Connor, one of the most clueless people on the planet, could open it without breaking a sweat.

"Agreed. Humiliation isn't enough. Mortals bounce back, sadly." He hit the end of the bottle to get every last drop out.

"Hey… you still got that video from that one time…"

"You know it, bro! I got copies of that everywhere!"

"For blackmail purposes?"

"And entertainment, convenience, merchandise. Aphrodite girls treat that video like a chick flick! I swear I saw them watching it one night with popcorn!" Connor grinned.

"Wouldn't it break all those poor mortal hearts to see that on the screen at lunch?"

"Not to mention the look on Percy and Annabeth's faces! Dude, this will be epic!" He high-fived me.

"You done yet?" Annabeth hissed from the doorway. I wiggled my eyebrows and let an evil smile show on my face.

"Oh yes, we're _all _ready."

* * *

**Percy POV**

Let's get something straight; I really don't want to do this.

"But Annabeth…" I whined as we walked to the school.

"No buts, Percy. Don't you want these girls off your back?"

"Well yeah but…"

"Then do it." I groaned. Annabeth's brilliant plan was this: humiliate Calypso as bad as possible using the Stolls, let it be known I was in on it to make her mad at me. Being the vain person she was, it was likely she wouldn't be able to look past any of this and come after me again.

Annabeth squeezed my hand and looked me calmly in the eyes, "I don't like it either, but I really don't like having to deal with _her _all the time." I groaned.

"Me neither, but still…" Annabeth pressed her palm to my cheek.

"I love you Percy," She said, "No matter what happens." She stretched her neck and kissed me softly. Again, I thanked my lucky stars that Annabeth had picked me. I was disappointed when she pulled away after only a few seconds.

"Come on Annabeth, I'm going to have to go the entire day without you, don't I get one more kiss?" I pouted. She chuckled and pecked me one more time.

"Oh Percy!" Calypso squealed as she strut towards us. I groaned.

"Showtime," Annabeth muttered. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath, "Percy just leave me alone!" She yelled. I winced, even though I knew it was all just an act.

"Fine!" I yelled, giving her a wink so Calypso couldn't see us. The corner of her mouth lifted as she turned and walked away.

"Aw. Fighting, are we?" Calypso asked me with a fake sympathy pout. I nodded, and just hoped I looked pathetic enough.

"Look I don't want to be near Annabeth right now," The words felt wrong coming out of my mouth. I saw the blonde beauty herself, watching me from around the corner. She's cute when she's furious…

"Well, you can hang out with Vic and I today," She said, and hooked her arm through mine, "You can walk me to Civics," And that's when she started babbling about her nails or something and I tuned out.

Phase one: gain trust. Completed. Time for phase two…

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

Apparently, Percy and I's impending break up was big news within minutes. Percy and I had planned on being normal and couple-like in English. That plan changed the moment I walked in. Girls pounced, asking if the rumors were true. I couldn't tell them no, because that would get back to Calypso.

"Annabeth!" Trinity called me over, and I gave her a look of relief as I escaped the crazed fan girls waiting for an answer.

"Thanks for that," I said, she shrugged.

"What are friends for?" Speaking of friends, at that moment Thalia walked in with Percy. He went and sat in an empty desk across the room while Thalia walked to join me and Trinity.

"Percy says hi, and that she took the bait." The Hunter updated us.

"Excellent," Trinity said, then she noticed my expression, "Don't worry Annabeth, she'll be off our backs for good soon enough." I smirked.

In Greek, I got an idea to talk to Percy without ruining our cover. Every day, the teacher asked for two volunteers to talk to each other in full on Greek. Today, I raised my hand along with Percy.

"Πώς μπορείτε να κρατήσει ψηλά?" (How are you holding up?) I made my tone sound irritated, like I was mad at him.

"Είναι το πιο ενοχλητικό άτομο που έχω γνωρίσει!" (She's the most irritating person I've ever met!) He said in anger, "Δεν μπορώ να περιμένω για αυτό να είναι πάνω από." (I can't wait for this to be over).

"Κι εγώ, μου λείπει εγκεφάλου μου φύκια!" (Me too, I miss my Seaweed Brain!). I yelled at him, making myself look mad.

"Αν θα μπορούσα να σας φιλήσω τώρα θα ήθελα!" (If I could kiss you right now, I would!) He screamed back at me.

"Λοιπόν, θα πρέπει ακριβώς να κερδίσουμε τον χαμένο χρόνο μετά το σχολείο!" (Well you'll just have to make up for lost time after school!) This time I went as far as hitting my hand against my desk.

"Υπόσχομαι! Η αγάπη σας σοφό κορίτσι!" (I promise! Love you Wise Girl) He looked mad. If I didn't know what he was saying I would think he was serious.

"Σ 'αγαπώ πάρα πολύ!" (I love you too!) The rest of the class was starting to look scared.

"Αποκτήστε ένα δωμάτιο εσείς οι δύο!" (Get a room, you two!) Beckendorf yelled, trying to sound irritated. We knew he was amused.

"Μπορείτε τύποι είναι πολύ χαριτωμένο! Νιώστε τυχεροί αδέλφια μου δεν είναι εδώ, αλλιώς θα είναι πιο ενοχλητικό από ό, τι είμαι!" (You guys are too cute! Feel lucky my siblings aren't here, otherwise they would be more irritating than I am!) Silena interjected, making her tone sound mad as well.

"Well," Mrs. Cerubla finally interrupted, "I think that's enough for today…"

Gym finally arrived, thank the gods! Calypso hung onto Percy practically the entire time, asking for help with her strokes, how to fix her goggles, a lot of different useless tasks that involved him getting much too close to her for my liking.

At the end of class, everyone filed into the locker rooms to wash the chlorine out of their hair and dry off (or pretend to, in Percy's case).

"…told you so!" I caught the last half of Calypso's sentence as I walked in, "Percy's mine for the taking!" She said smugly to the circle of girls around her. Her head popped up as I walked in, toweling of my hair. All of their eyes trained on me as I unlocked my locker and took out a change of clothes.

"So, Annabeth, you and Percy are on the rocks." Calypso drawled with pleasure. I didn't answer, so she kept talking, "You know, he came to _me _for refuge from _you." _Deep breaths, Annabeth, you can't use your demigod-advantages against a mere mortal. I slammed the locker door and headed towards the showers at the back of the room, which meant passing by Calypso and her group. Oh how I wished I'd gotten in the shower when Silena and Trinity had. It would be nice to have backup at a moment like this.

"Percy doesn't like girls with chlorine clogging up their hair," I informed her as I slid the curtain across the stall. Almost three seconds later, Calypso stepped into the shower next to mine with the shampoo.

My shower was hurried so that I could watch the show. Wearing my usual jeans, I sat on a bench, waiting for Calypso to take the towel off of her head.

"AAAAHHHH OH MY GOD!" Her scream pierced the air and may have permanently damaged my hearing.

But it was so worth it! Calypso's hair had been turned acid green!

"WHO DID THIS?!" She boomed, slamming her bare foot against the tile on the floor. Before anyone could say a word, she pointed at me. Of course she blames me. I only smirked and stood up.

"Find the proof, and I'll admit it." I said smugly. Silena high fived me as her, Trinity, and me walked out of the locker room laughing our heads off.

"When do you think she'll notice the—"

"NOT MY NEW SHIRT!"

"—clothes," Trinity finished with a smirk. While she was in the shower, Trinity had brought out a handy pair of scissors and cut some nice shapes in Calypso's clothing.

"She's going to have to wear her gym uniform for the rest of the day," I snickered.

"The shirt's still wet from gym, she'll freeze!" Silena said triumphantly.

"Phase two: humiliate part one. Complete."


	11. Pictures

**A/N In the process of editing the chapter with the fight and taking it out completely so keep an eye out for that**

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

"Do you have that power point hooked up?" I asked Beckendorf. He nodded.

"It's all set, ready to play." He said. We were in the cafeteria, beginning phase three of Calypso's downfall. It had taken some computer hacking on my part, some Facebook-stalking from the Stolls, and Beckendorf's skill with machinery to make this phase happen.

"Just in time too," I said, nodding towards the doors as Percy and Calypso walked in. She walked behind him to keep people from staring at her, but it was hard to miss the color of her hair, the damp gym clothes, and the embarrassment written on her face. Her lapdog, Victoria, was walking behind them, glaring at anyone looking at the group funny.

Surprise, surprise, we were the only ones who glared back at them.

The three of them sat in shame at the "popular" table while me, Thalia, and the Stolls got up in front of everyone. Beckendorf hooked up microphones and handed them to us. The room fell silent as we rolled a large white board up (for viewing purposes of course). Beckendorf aimed the projector at it.

"Hey Calypso!" I said into the microphone. She looked up at me, the green hair not able to conceal the hatred in her eyes, but they also held the triumph of Percy sitting next to her.

That was about to change. I winked at him, and he grinned that mischievous grin we all know and love.

"P-Percy where are you going?" Calypso stuttered as he got up to stand beside me, "You tricked me!" He ignored her.

"Hello, beautiful," He greeted me. He kissed my temple and wound his arm around my waist, much to the disappointment of a lot of girls in the room.

"We thought you might want to see this, Spinach Head!" Thalia yelled at green-haired red-faced Calypso. Beckendorf got the hint, and pressed PLAY.

"The first picture we've got is Calypso here, at age two when Mommy took her for her first haircut," I said with satisfaction. A picture of her popped up, sitting on a plastic unicorn, screaming her head off. Her eyes were as wide as Grover's when he'd had too much coffee. The cafeteria chuckled a little bit. It wasn't our worst picture, but there were more to come.

"Looks like someone has an issue with unicorns," Thalia smirked.

"Next!"

"And now we've got Calypso in the second grade giving a valentine to her first crush…" We showed a cute little picture of the little _vlaca_ handing a heart card to a small blonde boy. The crowd awed at the picture.

"And here's what happened next," We flipped to the next picture, which was of the little boy shoving cake in her face shouting something. Probably along the lines of "Ew, girls have cooties!"

"Baby's first rejection,"

"But definitely not her last," The Stolls snickered. That got a full laugh from the cafeteria.

"Next one, Beckendorf!" Thalia called.

"On it!" He clicked a button and a photo came up.

"This, ladies and gentleman, is Calypso's seventh grade yearbook photo." Now _that_ got some full on laugh attacks from everyone. The picture showed her with bright blue streaks in her hair, a terrible case of acne, wearing the same big, blocky glasses that my grandmother wears (no, not the godly one). She was trying to give the camera a cute pouty look, but she came out looking like a duck with a sourball in his mouth.

"Someone's been kissing a duck," Thalia commented.

"Nah, not even a duck would kiss that face." Travis retorted, making the students scream with laughter. I took this moment to look at the real Calypso. The fire in her eyes was almost as bad as Ares's that time he had fought Percy.

"And this leads us up to her first date, in eighth grade." Now this picture was one of my personal favorites. It detailed a much more normal looking Calypso, wearing a pretty blue dress, standing next to her date, ready for the school dance. There was just one little issue…

"You'd think she'd check to make sure the dress fit before she left!" Thalia laughed. In the picture the couple stood sideways, and there was a clear view of the side zipper on the dress. It had busted open, giving everyone a clear view of her hello-kitty undergarments.

There were some kids literally rolling on the floor, laughing! Calypso, on the other hand, looked mean enough to punch a shark.

"And last, but certainly not least, a picture from today." Trinity and I had snuck a picture of Calypso when she was in the locker room, screaming at her hair and clothes.

Oh yes, she was mad. But there was something else hidden in her eyes.

We'd broken her down.

I gave Percy my microphone, and walked straight up to her. The crowd hushed as I stood proudly over my enemy. Not rival, not competition, my enemy. She looked up, tears of anger and embarrassment budding in her eyes. I bent down, as though I were talking to a child.

"Now then," I said calmly, giving her my battle-angry eyes, "I suggest you stay away from my boyfriend. Otherwise, I will gut you, and hang your entrails over my fireplace as a sacrifice." I said it as though I was telling her what color my shirt was. I was quiet, but everyone heard me. She attempted to look back at me with defiance, but it just wasn't working.

"Hey Annabeth!" Connor called, I stood straight and looked back, "This slideshow isn't over yet." I raised an eyebrow. Did they find another photo?

"Now, keep in mind, this video has had some parts edited out, but you'll get the gist of it." My eyes flashed to Percy, who looked clueless as usual.

"Move over, Beckendorf," Travis said, and took control of the computer. He opened up the DVD player, and popped in a disc.

"What are you two…"

"Shh!" Connor shushed me, "You'll want to hear this." The video loaded, and Travis pressed PLAY.

_"You got something to say to me?" _My own voice said. The camera adjusted to a video of Percy and I after the war. It looked like the camera was in the bushes of Camp Half-Blood. We were sitting in the dining pavilion… oh my gods. The rest of the student body watched the video curiously.

_"Travis, you're stepping on my foot." _Katie's voice hissed in the video. The camera shook, and Travis in the video muttered an apology before refocusing the camera.

"Turn it off." I said coldly, and started walking forwards.

"Oh no, no my deadly friend, watch on." Travis said, slinging his arm around Katie.

_"You're laughing at me!"_ Percy said, his voice was robotic, but it was definitely his. You could hear the nerves in his voice, knowing what he was about to do. The real Percy wasn't looking. He had his eyes trained on his feet, but it was obvious he was blushing.

_"I am not!"_ Video-me said with a smile.

_"You're so not making this easy._" I couldn't help but smile as the video Annabeth laughed, and put her arms around video Percy.

_"I am never going to make things easy for you, get used to it."_ And then I kissed him. That was when Calypso got up, and ran out of the cafeteria in despair.

"Aw!" Katie squealed, "Best day at camp _ever_!"

"What about the day I asked you out?" Travis asked. She shrugged.

"That too I suppose."

"Hey wait! That isn't all," Connor said, "This just so happens to be a montage of many videos and such." My jaw dropped and I stalked over to talk directly to his face.

"Turn it off, Stoll!" I yelled. Who knew what other moments they had on here? Thalia grabbed my arm.

"I want to see this! I wasn't there, remember?" I sighed, and gave in. The video continued with Percy and I getting dumped in the lake. Then it changed.

"What is this?" Percy asked, staring with confusion.

"Watch and learn, my friend." Connor said with a grin.

It was another video, but it was dark and blurry.

"Sorry, Travis was manning the camera and then Katie walked by…" Connor explained.

"Shut up!" Travis hissed, his face as red as Percy's.

"Here we go!" Silena said excitedly. I recognized the forest, still at camp. Was this that time when…?

"Aw come on, you guys got this on video?" Percy groaned.

"Oh yeah!" Nico said, remembering, "I remember this." Capture the flag. Percy and I were on opposite teams this time, both on offense. It had been one of the few times Nico had visited.

_"I think they went that way…" _One of the Stolls said.

_"No, no, no, they're probably by the river." _The other argued.

_"But Juniper said she saw them over by those trees."_

"_Wait! I think I see them!"_ The camera came out of the foliage and focused on the clearing beside Zeus's Fist.

"Oh gods." I mumbled and covered my face, peeking at the screen through my fingers.

The moon had been bright that night, so you could clearly see Percy and I sparring, trying to get past each other.

_"Give it up, Percy. We both know I'm going to win anyways."_

_"But we also both know that I'm a better swordsman."_

_"We'll see." _The two of us continued our sparring session until I was able to kick his blade away. The kids in our gym class laughed, remembering that day we'd done sword fighting in gym.

_"Surrender yet?" _I asked cockily. Why hadn't I seen that sparkle in his eyes that showed he had an idea?

_"Never!" _With that he ducked beneath my blade, picked me up, and threw me over his shoulder. I squeaked in surprise, but still held my blade.

_"What do you think you're doing?!" _I screeched.

_"Taking you hostage!" _He said and laughed like an evil villain from a low budget film. I started kicking and scratching at his back, which did nothing. Though I noticed how careful I was to avoid the small of his back. Huh, must have been early in the relationship when I was still worried about messing up.

_"Put me down this instant!" _ I ordered. Instead, he swung me so that he was holding me in his arms, like a baby.

_"And why would I do that?" _He questioned.

_"Because," _As my answer, I pulled myself up with my arms and kissed him.

"I think that's enough!" Percy piped up. He knew what was coming next, and how weak it made him look.

"No, no, lets watch." I said. He grimaced at me. The video continued. Percy set me down on my feet without breaking the kiss so that he could press me to his chest and stroke my hair.

His mistake.

I kicked him in the shin, and then knocked him to the ground where I promptly pinned him down with my dagger touching the tip of his nose. My teammates ran past us, holding the flag.

_"That's cheating!" _Percy argued while my teammates cheered me on.

_"Yeah Annabeth!"_

_"Show him who's boss!"_

_"PDA alert!" _Before things got too awkward, I stood up and held out my hand for Percy.

"Connor, Travis, that's enough." I protested.

"No wait! There're so many more cute pictures coming up!" Silena argued.

"You know this _how?"_

"Told you they watched it," I heard Travis mutter. Katie whacked him.

"Lunch is almost over anyways," Percy said. He came and stood next to me, "Turn it off now, and we'll watch it with you later." He promised.

"Speak for yourself, I'm burning that disc." I mumbled. He put an arm comfortingly around my shoulders.

"Go ahead," Travis ejected the disc and handed it to me, "That's not our only copy."

"How many are there?!" I asked angrily.

"Lets see… carry the one… twenty-seven. For now, at least. We're still making copies."

"WHAT?"

"You can purchase one from us for $19.95 plus shipping and handling." Travis said, "But hurry, they're selling out fast! You wouldn't believe how many copies we sold at the _Empire State Building_. Twelve, to be exact."

"YOU DID WHAT?!" My mother had probably seen this!

"I'll buy one!"

"Me too!" Girls started yelling. They probably wanted to photo shop themselves into pictures.

"I will kill you!" I screamed. This time, Percy didn't disagree.

"You're going down, Stoll!"

"Well then I'll die a rich man!"


	12. The Rest of the Video

**A/N Just in case you hadn't noticed, I edited Chapter 9 and now it isn't bad! Woohoo! Yes this is a very short chapter, but it's only a filler. Sorry it took so long, midterms :P**

* * *

**Percy POV**

Don't get me wrong, I was mad at the Stolls! But I was a little bit glad they had that movie. The fact that they're selling them, now that's just wrong! But it was kind of nice to be able to see all those little moments between me and Annabeth.

True to my word, we all gathered around the TV and watched the uncut version (since Trinity and Hayden weren't there). This time they had the whole "threw us in the canoe lake" scene complete with Annabeth and I talking about the war, and all the Greek myth stuff before she kissed me. The Capture the Flag video also included the parts where I used my mega cool water powers on her, which was pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

"I think is the part where the pictures start showing up…" Grover said thoughtfully as he chewed on a plastic fork.

"You've seen this _too?"_ He nodded with a "no, duh" expression on his face.

"Perce, the entire camp has seen this. Hephaestus puts has this one video on loop on one of his channels. Aphrodite regularly puts it on that TV on her throne; Chiron added it into the orientation video for the goodness sake! I'm surprised it took you two so long to find out!"

"We don't necessarily do regular checks to make sure people aren't following us around with a camera." Annabeth muttered.

"That's gonna change," I said, glaring at the Stolls.

"Beckendorf's the one that made the camera's!" They said right away and pointed to him. He glared.

"What happened to all for one?" He sighed, "But anyways, watch. You'll want to see these." He said. Annabeth and I turned our heads back to the screen just as a picture from our trip to Paris came up. We'd just finished our quest to save Hermes's caduceus, and were on our date in Paris. The Eiffel Tower stood tall and bright behind us. Annabeth was in that pretty green dress that looked the same shade as my eyes (no coincidence there). We were holding hands over the table, just looking at each other. In the back of my mind I was wondering who had taken the picture. Mostly I was just thinking about how beautiful she'd looked that night. I mean… wow!

"How did you even get a picture of this?" Annabeth asked incredulously, "We were alone all night!"

"Hephaestus has these amazing satellites that work kind of like that shield you had during the Titan War. He lets us use from time to time." Beckendorf explained, "You can a picture of anything at any time with those bad boys."

"Great, another name of the revenge list."

"I took that picture!" Silena said proudly. It was the picture from last week, when Annabeth and I were kissing goodnight at the door.

"Ew, this apartment has been contaminated, everyone cover your mouths before you're infected!" Thalia covered hers with her hand. Annabeth punched her shoulder.

"Just because you've sworn of men forever, doesn't mean the rest of us have to!"

"Ah yes, but your boyfriend is not a man per se…"

"That's right, I'm too godly to be just a man." Ok, maybe I deserved to have a pillow thrown at me.

"Shh!" Juniper shushed us, "Keep watching!" Annabeth rolled her eyes in that cute way she does.

The next picture that came up was from when we were thirteen. We had just finished the chariot races, which explained the laurels hanging off of our heads. Her lips were pressed to my cherry-red cheek. Tyson was standing next to us, clapping. Rachel laughed.

"Look at his face!" She said, pointing at the screen.

"You should have heard the rest of the camp," Clarisse grumbled, "They went crazy. It was just a kiss on the cheek!"

"Excuse me! That was the first real Percabeth moment!" Silena argued. The two started to bicker back and forth. What do you expect when you put love and war in the same room? Sure they were friends, but it was hard for Clarisse not to argue.

"Clarisse," Chris finally interrupted her. He gave her one look, and she was silent.

It's official: Chris is the god of mind control.

"Shut up and watch! The good part's coming up!" Connor said with that evil smirk of his. This cannot end well…

"Is that… under the lake?" Annabeth asked. Blood was slowly slithering from her face.

"Oh yeah!" Travis said, "Beckendorf made these wicked underwater cameras…"

"You didn't!" She said incredulously.

"For the record, I tried to talk them out of it." Katie added in, "But it was all of them against me." She pointed her finger at the demigods watching the TV, all but Thalia who had been off with the Hunters at that point.

"I can't believe you guys got this on video, that's so creepy!" Annabeth shivered. I squeezed her shoulders. The video was murky, but you could clearly see Annabeth and I, for lack of a better word, making out.

"You guys were only dating for three minutes!" Chris said, "Way to go Percy!" He high-fived me. Annabeth slapped me, "It was weeks before me and Clarisse even kissed." Now it was Clarisse's turn to slap him.

"But to be fair, you were in a state of delirium for those first few weeks." Silena reminded him. He shuddered.

"Dark times." Chris had been found wandering the desert after his, ahem, "adventure" in the Labyrinth. That place was creepy when I was with a group, I couldn't imagine going through it alone.

The DVD continued with pictures from us lying on the beach, sparring in the arena, playing Pinochle with Chiron at the Big House. There were clips of us sparring too, a few of us fighting monsters that had found their way into camp, and one of the time Chiron caught us kissing behind Cabin 3. Now _that_ had been awkward…

The video ended with a photo that had been tacked up in the Big House for a few years now. It was of me and Annabeth when we were twelve, and we'd just gotten back from our first quest. I had my arm resting awkwardly on her shoulder, and both of us were blushing down to our feet from the contact. Ah, to be twelve and totally in love without realizing it…

"I… cannot believe the entire camp has been spying on us all this time!" Annabeth said, "Have we never had privacy?"

"Sure you have." Connor said, "We haven't followed you to Percy's apartment."

"Yeah, Sally wouldn't let us install cameras because she said it would be "awkward"." Travis used the air quotes with his fingers.

"Such a shame. Imagine all the juicy footage we could get." Connor said with a slump.

"Such a shame. Well, goodnight everyone!" Annabeth said quickly as she bounced up off the couch.

"Aw, but it's only seven. I don't need to be home till ten." I whined. She smirked and bent to kiss my cheek.

"You can stay if you want, but I'm going to bed."

"But there's no reason for me to stay if you're not up." Silena "awe'd" at this comment.

"That is sooo going in the next edition of this disc!" She said, and waved the silver circle back and forth between her fingers.

"Glad to see you think so much of the rest of us." Nico mumbled.


	13. Chinese, Pizza, and a Monster or two

**A/N- Sorry I've been a little behind lately, but I'm on a roll here! Expect the next chapter by tomorrow, tonight if we're lucky!**

**And I also hadn't realized that Riordan mentions the Keres in the Sword of Hades... oops. And my description isn't all that good... **

**Well! I shall edit this a bit and let you know when that's all fixed up!**

* * *

**Percy POV**

"Dude, I don't know I mean… it's Trin, you know! It's Trin, and we've been friends since kindergarten and it would be so weird… ugh!" Hayden was having a serious argument with himself. It had been exactly two days after Calypso's downfall. It was Wednesday, after school. Four days after Trinity and Hayden's first kiss and he was _still_ not sure what to do about it.

Silena decided she needed some "girl-bonding-time" and so they all had gone out for pizza while us guys had stayed back at the apartment and ordered Chinese. Hayden was so focused on his rant he didn't even notice Grover take a bite out of the Styrofoam cup his hot and sour soup came in.

"You know, Clarisse and me were friends since we were twelve." Chris said, "We ended up pretty well."

"I wouldn't say that exactly, I mean you did end up with _Clarisse."_ Connor shuddered.

"Hey, no smack talking my woman. Besides, you're single." Chris reminded him.

"Pfft, by choice! Dude I have offers coming at me left and right." Connor said. Travis started choking on his noodles.

"You mean that time grandma asked you to go to the Charlie Chaplin marathon with her? Or were you referring to when our five year old cousin, Lindy, wanted to play tea party?" He laughed. Connor turned scarlet.

"Come on, bro, that's cold."

"Says the single twin."

"Can we get back to the issue here?" I interrupted and pointed my chopsticks at Hayden, "I think you should ask her out. She's had a crush on you all year." Hayden chewed nervously on an eggroll.

"I'm not so sure, Perce. I mean what if it gets messed up and then things are awkward…"

"What if it goes perfect and you end up with your first steady girlfriend?" Grover pointed out.

"It's a lot easier to mess up than it is to make it work." Nico said.

"Gee, thanks Nico. You're really helping out here." I said sarcastically. He shrugged and took a bite.

"I'm just pointing out all the options here." He said through a mouthful.

"Well, stop." I said, then turned back to Hayden, "Look, Annabeth and I…"

"Here we go again," Grover groaned, "The epic story of "How Percy Met Annabeth". I swear one of these days someone will write a book about you two."

"We are pretty awesome," I said, "But that's not the point. My point is that almost every guy in here has been with their girlfriend since we were younger, and our relationships have all gone great."

"Except, the first few years Katie totally hated my guts." Travis said, "But once we got together, everything was awesome. I've never been happier."

"Not even that time we tricked that cop into thinking we were the Olsen twins in disguise?" Connor asked, batting his eyelashes mockingly at his brother. Travis considered this.

"Ok, that was hilarious. But still, Katie's the best thing that ever happened to me.

"Gee, thanks bro. Glad to know you care." Connor muttered.

"I agree," Beckendorf said, ignoring Connor, "I can't believe I didn't ask Silena out earlier. What a mistake it was to wait so long."

"Juniper and I have been together longer than any of you." Grover gloated, "Even though sometimes she gets a little protective, I'm nothing without her."

"But what about when you guys all fight with your girlfriends? Aren't you worried that she might leave you?" Hayden asked as he stared dismally into his glass.

"That's a question for Percy here. Him and Annabeth fight the most out of every couple I've ever seen." Chris said, patted my shoulder.

"Thanks dude." I said and rolled my eyes, "Do Annabeth and I fight a lot? Hades yes!" Everyone laughed in agreement, "But she'd never leave me, and I'd never leave her. The worst fight we ever had was when she caught me teaching some girls from Aph… er, Silena's cabin to do archery. I didn't realize they were flirting…"

"Silena was so mad at them! They were newbies, and they hadn't learned about your whole "best love story of the century" situation yet." Beckendorf explained, "I didn't hear the end of it for weeks! Thanks for that, by the way."

"_Anyways_," I said with a pointed glance in his direction, "The fight was so bad, everyone else actually believed that we were gonna break up."

"Except Silena, she had faith," Beckendorf added in.

"Right, except Silena." I agreed, "But even though we were mad, that didn't mean we didn't still love each other and would find a way to fix things. And we did. Sure when we first started dating I was worried about doing something stupid to mess things up, but that's normal."

"Amen to that!" Travis said, "I'm _still_ in that phase." Connor laughed at that.

"Once I got past that phase, never once did I think that Annabeth and I would ever break up." I finished.

"So you don't think that you and Annabeth will ever break up?" Nico asked. I shook my head.

"Nope."

"I hope not, Silena would be so depressed, and who knows what her mother would do to you!" Beckendorf said. Thunder rumbled outside.

"What does her mom have to do with anything?" Hayden asked. Oh, right…

"She's…a… wedding planner!" Grover said, "And she's been planning Percy and Annabeth's wedding for years now." Great job Grover, way to make it better.

"That's a little far into the future, don't you think?" I mumbled and pushed my chicken around the container.

"Well you don't think you and Annabeth will ever break up, right?" Chris said.

"Point is, ask Trinity out." I said loudly, "The success rate for this group is pretty high, minus Nico and Connor of course." I teased.

"Nico, we really need to hang out with more single guys." Connor said. Nico raised his cup in agreement.

"So Hayden," Grover said dramatically, "Are you going to, or what?"

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

I really hate girl's night out.

Silena, Rachel, Thalia, Trinity, Juniper, Clarisse (surprisingly), Katie, and myself walked around the corner to a small pizza place and took a seat around a table in the back.

Unsurprisingly, Silena was the one to begin the conversation we all knew was coming.

"Trinity, how was the kiss?" She asked before we'd all even sat down. Her blush could have been seen from outside.

"It was absolutely incredible! There was such a huge spark…" And then she started going on about how the kiss felt. Of course I liked Trinity, and of course I was happy that she was so happy. But I _really_ didn't need to know what Hayden smelled like.

"Do you think he'll ask you out?" Katie asked after we ordered two pizzas: one meat lover and one vegetarian. I frowned as the waitress walked away. She was staring at us funny, as was that waitress over there…

"I think so, do you think he will?" Trinity asked. We all nodded in agreement.

"How could he not after that kiss?" Rachel asked.

"He may not if he's as oblivious as Percy. I kissed him a year before we finally got together." True, the kiss had been because I thought he was going to die, but still…

"He's worse than Percy," Trinity said, "Great, now I just have to wait a year or two…"

"Hold on, he's talking to all the guys right now. No doubt it's about you," Silena said, "Hopefully they can convince him not to be an idiot for a year like Percy."

"Watch it, Beauregard," I warned, "He may be an idiot, but he's my idiot." I said proudly. She smiled at me.

"Don't worry, Annabeth, we know." She winked.

"Your pizza, ladies." The waitress came back with our pizzas. She leaned over my shoulder to set the, on the table and I caught a weird scent off of him that I couldn't quite pinpoint… was that… _blood?_ She smiled at us. And walked back to the kitchen. I could tell everyone else felt uneasy about her. Everyone but Trinity, that is.

"She seems nice," She said. I bit my lip and nodded.

"Uh-huh…" We fell silent.

"Did I say something?" Trinity asked. I snapped out of it.

"Oh no, no, no, no, you're fine we're just hungry. Right?" The other girls nodded enthusiastically and dug into the pizza. Trinity still looked suspicious though…

"If he doesn't ask you out, you should ask him out." Thalia said through a mouthful of cheese, "It's the 21st century, why can't a woman ask out a man?"

"Yeah! I'm the one that asked out Chris," Clarisse said, "Worked out fine."

"Grover never would have made the first move if I hadn't asked him out first." Juniper said, "He's just gets so nervous and he trips over his own words so much."

"Same with Percy. He was trying to ask me out, but he just wouldn't spit it out! Finally I just kissed him." I retold the story.

"Oh, we remember, Annabeth." Katie winked. And here comes the blush.

"The point is, it's been a week. Give him a few more days to get the courage, and then just ask him for yourself." Rachel interjected. I mouthed a thank you to her.

"How's the pizza?" The waitress once again walked over. Immediately the seven of us stiffened in our chairs while Trinity just looked confused.

"Fine, thank you." I said coldly.

"Can I get you ladies _anything_ else?" She asked, putting a hiss on the "s".

"No, thank you." I turned my head to stare him directly in the eye, "We're just fine."

"I see." She flinched from my stone cold glare, "Annabeth Chase, is it?" Full name: monster alert.

"Rachel, why don't you and Trinity go to the bathroom?" I said calmly.

"No!" The waitress slammed her palm down on the table, "Nobody leaves." Her voice had gone raspy, and it made my skin crawl.

"W-what's going on?" Trinity asked. She was pale white, and her hands were shaking. The other two waiters in the place quickly locked the doors and shut the curtains. It was late, we were the only ones left in here.

"_Demigod scum."_ The "waitress" spat at us. Before he knew it my knife was in my hand.

"Well this'll be fun," I said and stood up.

The monster growled. Slowly, its skin faded into what looked like a black fog in the form of a human. It's eyes glowed red, and it's fangs dripped with a dark red substance. Blood.

"It's a _ker!"_ I told the others as I lunged for it. The creature swiped at me with razor sharp claws, but I ducked and plunged my dagger into it's calf. The _ker_ howled in pain. The other two took on their true forms, and rose up into the air in foggy black wings. Being the skilled demigods we were, we knew how to conceal our weapons, and get the quickly when needed.

"ARES!" Clarisse called as she charged them with Maimer (a.k.a Lamer). Rachel pushed Trinity down underneath the table and crawled down with her. Thalia jumped up on the table, bow in hand.

"Come at me!" She yelled, the delight of battle glinting in her eyes. She shot one of the _ker_ in the wing, and it spiraled back down where Katie promptly jabbed her sword into it. The thing melted down into a buddle of darkness before it disappeared completely. One down, two to go.

The one that had attacked us first bared those blood filled fangs at me. I stabbed my dagger into its shoulder. Black blood squirted from the gash and onto me. The thing screamed in agony as it fell to the ground, and made my ears feel like they were bleeding. Silena and Clarisse tag teamed the other one. Silena would take a swipe at it with her knife as Clarisse jabbed at it with her spear, electrocuting it away bit by bit. Katie was running towards me, yelling…

"Annabeth!" She cried out. I looked just in time to see the thing at my feet regain consciousness, bare it's fangs, and take bite out of my ankle.

It felt like acid was being pushed through my veins as I fell. Blood was pouring out of the wound. I grit my teeth to keep myself from screaming and wiped the tears out of my eyes. Katie caught up, and stabbed the thing in the stomach as I got it in the heart. Just like her sister, she dissolved away into nothing.

"What a rush! I haven't had a fight like that in a while," Clarisse cracked her knuckles and grinned like a madwoman.

"What were those things anyways?" Silena asked. Katie helped me up and onto a chair.

"_Keres, _they're daughters of Nyx, goddess of the night. That's odd, they usually prey on dying men on a battlefield…" I said. Juniper jumped up from her hiding place and poured some nectar over my bite.

"Maybe they're leftover from the Titan War." She said hopefully.

"Well, they certainly weren't the loving type." Silena grumbled.

"Wait, where's Trinity?" I asked hurriedly and ducked my head under the table to where she sat beside Rachel. The Oracle was holding her tightly, speaking soft words to her.

Trinity… she looked like a mess. Her eyes were wide; she was pale, and shaking. Katie crawled down to help coax her out.

"Oh gods this will not end well." I groaned.

"T-t-the the things! Th-they and you guys! Y-you…" She started stammering, and her right eye began to twitch.

"We need to get her back," Clarisse said, "Silena, wrap Annabeth up and help her walk. We'll take care of the mortal."


	14. Everyone's Going Nuts

**A/N Warning there is some Percabeth fluff in here that, for those of you that aren't into complete fluff, may gag. Don't worry, it isn't anything that isn't suitable for minors! **

* * *

**Percy POV**

You know, I should have been surprised we'd made it for so long without a monster attack. But when the girls busted into the apartment with a shaky Trinity and a limping Annabeth, all covered in some weird black goo, I went nuts.

"What happened?" I demanded and rushed to help Annabeth onto the couch. She winced as I lowered her down onto the cushions.

"Oh, nothing we couldn't handle." She said lightly. Her ankle was wrapped tightly in a bunch of cheap napkins with _Antonio's Pizza Palace_ stamped onto them. I touched the wrappings, but she grabbed my hand and vigorously shook her head.

"It's ok, it's healing." She lied with a smile. The smile faded quickly when she looked at Trinity.

"Trinity?" Hayden said, the worry was heavy in his voice. Annabeth looked into my eyes and we had one of those moments where we read each other's thoughts.

Trinity had seen them. How? As far as I knew, she couldn't see through the Mist. She for sure wasn't a demigod; she was an exact replica of both her parents. Annabeth squeezed my hand to let me know everything would be ok.

"M-m-monsters! A-a-and swords!" Trinity started babbling away about monsters and how Silena, Clarisse, Annabeth, Thalia and Katie had killed them. Ok, maybe she could see through the Mist…

"Did you hit your head or something?" Hayden asked. His eyebrows were pushed together in concern. Hayden gripped her small hands in his as he listened to her story. In the kitchen, Beckendorf was gently cleaning off some of the goop that had gotten into Silena's hair. Clarisse was explaining the truth to Chris in a hushed tone, as was Juniper.

"Um… you guys?" Rachel said quietly. Everyone hushed and looked at her. Her eyes had that age-old wisdom look in them again, "I think we need to tell them the truth." She said

"The truth?" Hayden asked. Thalia sighed and nodded.

"I agree, it's better they find out before another attack." She relented.

"Are you sure? You could easily manipulate the Mist to make her forget." Nico said.

"Wait, manipulate the what?" Hayden was starting to look scared, Trinity wasn't looking at any of us. Annabeth was biting her lip and playing with her camp necklace again.

"We can't do that every time there's an attack." She said. Beckendorf nodded in agreement. Clarisse only grimaced.

"Percy?" Annabeth said quietly. She looked at me with those owl-feather grey eyes of hers, "Maybe you should tell them, it might sound better coming from you." She said with the tiniest half-smile. I bent my head and kissed her hand before standing up.

"Hayden? Trin? There's something you should know about all of us." I started, "You see… we're… well ok I'll start this way: you know all those Greek myths we talk about?" I asked. Hayden nodded in confusion as he gently squeezed Trinity's hands. She was still shaking.

"Well… they're not exactly myths." I said, "I mean, they're real. The gods, and all that." They didn't really react at first.

"You're kidding me, right?" Hayden said, as though he was shocked I would joke when Trinity was obviously scared out of her mind. I just shook my head.

"Nope." I popped the 'p', "It's all real. And we're kind of a big part of that world." I said. Hayden just raised an eyebrow.

"For gods sake, we're demigods!" Clarisse finally burst, "Children of the gods."

"So much for breaking it gently," Thalia mumbled. Trinity looked up with widened eyes. Hayden only let out a short laugh.

"You can't be serious? Demigods? That's insane!"

"Yeah it is," I mumbled, "But it's true. I swear, it's the truth."

"Oh please, and I'm Batman." He said, "Come on, Perce, Trinity's scared. You can't really be playing this stuff right now!"

"Hayden I'm serious!" I said.

"He's telling the truth," Annabeth said, "My mother's Athena."

"The Wisdom goddess?" Hayden said. She nodded.

"And mine's Ares," Clarisse said.

"Hermes," Chris, Connor, and Travis all said at once.

"Demeter's my mother." Katie said quietly.

"My dad's Hades," Nico said.

"And mine's Hephaestus." Beckendorf called from the kitchen, "And Silena's mom is Aphrodite." Hayden still didn't look like he bought it.

"My dad's Zeus, but I'm a Hunter of Artemis now." Thalia explained, holding up her bow as proof.

"I don't see how an old bow is going to convince us." Hayden said, looking at the bow.

"Percy, show them." Juniper said, "Prove it."

"I don't know, that might be a little shocking…" I said.

"Not as shocking as telling them who Grover is!" She argued.

"Fine! Fine, I'll show them." I said, and went to the kitchen for a glass of water.

"Show us what?" Hayden said. Trinity was looking around at all of us now with amazement and fear in her eyes. She definitely believed us.

"Just watch and learn, my friend." I said and set the glass down in front of him. Closing my eyes, I concentrated. The familiar tug on my gut came, and the water started rising up out of the glass.

"Holy…!" Hayden shouted and jumped back.

"Son of Poseidon, here." I said, pointing a thumb at myself.

"B-but that can't be…" He whispered to himself, "There must've been magic mushrooms or something…"

"Hayden," Trinity spoke quietly and calmly, "They're telling the truth." He looked up into her eyes, as she said this. In an instant his body relaxed it's stance.

"So that's why you all speak Greek so well… and the sword-fighting… and how you swim so fast!" Hayden said, pointing at me. I gave him my best sheepish grin.

"He's such a cheater, isn't he?" Annabeth said to lighten the mood.

"Not cheating! Using my resources!" She just rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say."

"But then what are you guys?" Hayden asked Grover and Juniper.

"Tree nymph," Juniper giggled, "And Grover's… well… just look." She said. He kicked off one of his fake feet and showed his hoof to Hayden. At the sight, Trinity turned pale, but Hayden just shrugged.

"Grover's foot…?"

"Relax," Annabeth said, "Focus as hard as you can, and see past the Mist." A vein in his forehead showed just a little bit when his eyes widened, and we knew he had seen that Grover was part goat.

"You're a satyr!" Trinity said in shock. He smiled.

"Actually, I've recently been deemed a Lord of the Wild." He said proudly.

"All hail. Meanwhile I'm, ahem, _Savior of Olympus!"_ I argued.

"Olympus, which you also destroyed in your quest to save it…" Annabeth added in with a smirk. I flopped back down next to her.

"If I hadn't destroyed it you would be out of a job, now wouldn't you Ms. Architect?" I said and laid an arm across her shoulders.

"Excuse me, current Oracle of Delphi over here!" Rachel said, "Glad to be recognized!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, start at the beginning!" Hayden said, "What the… what?" We all laughed.

"It's a lot to get used to, but it's actually pretty cool." I said. Annabeth nodded, agreeing with me.

"Minus all the monsters of course." She pointed out.

"Speaking of which, what attacked you guys tonight?" Nico asked.

"What did Annabeth call them, Karens?" Juniper asked.

"_Keres,_ daughters of the goddess Nyx. They usually fly over battlefields to prey on dying men." Annabeth explained. Wow, even with all that black gunk on her face she was beautiful… she winced and bent down to touch her ankle. Uh-oh.

"What did you do?" I asked, pointing to her ankle.

"I fractured it. But it's ok, the nectar took the pain away for the most part. It'll take a few more hours to heal fully though." Something in her eyes was off, but I decided not to push it.

"If you say so..." She smiled weakly at me before kissing me.

"I'm fine, Percy. Honest." She said, "Now then, Hayden and Trinity. It's time you heard the tale of Percy Jackson and his conquest to absolutely destroy Olympus."

"Just before I save it from the head of all evil!"

And so, we all took turns telling Hayden and Trinity all about our adventures, starting when I joined camp a whole six years ago. We went from the theft of the master bolt, to the poisoning of Thalia...

"She was a what now?!" Hayden exlaimed.

"A pine tree," Thalia said while wincing, "A dying pine tree, to be more specific."

"But then I saved the day and got her out of there!" I said proudly, resulting in my getting a zap from Sparky herself.

"Ok, back to the story..." Annabeth told them about how she'd been taken hostage by Luke and about how she knew he was still good, but being forced into this (I coughed really loudly at this).

"Percy, don't be jealous." Annabeth scolded me, "In case you've forgotten, Luke isn't much competition anymore, now is he?" That's right. He's dead.

"I still don't see how you could've had a crush on him, even _after _he became Kronos!"

"WHAT?!" Trinity yelled.

"Oh right, we didn't tell you that yet..." From there, I took over explaining all about the Labyrinth, Luke's plan to resurrect Kronos, the battle, everything. I even told her about the little incident on Mt. St. Helens.

"Well no wonder he didn't ask you out right away!" Trinity said, "You guys were under attack!"

"We tell you that Percy blew up a mountain filled with monsters forging a sword that severs your soul from your body... and you only hear the part where I kissed him?" Annabeth shook her head in disbelief.

"What? It was a big moment in your relationship." Silena protested.

"Anyways..." I got us back on topic, and told Hayden and Trinity all about how Beckendorf and I blew up the Princess Andromeda and how Tyson saved the two of us by taking us to Poseidon's underwater palace.

"You have a brother?" Hayden asked.

"Sort of... he's kind of a half-brother." I said, "And he's a cyclops." Trinity looked ready to vomit.

"Your brother is a cyclops?" Her jaw was hanging open.

"That's not even the worst sibling of his we've come across! Remember Antaeus?" Rachel said. Ugh that guy...

"And technically Blackjack's your brother too..." Annabeth pointed out. At that point I just had to cover my ears.

"Ew, ew, no more of this! If we were to go into technicalities of this, then you would be my niece you know!" She blushed bright, bright red.

"Technically aren't you all related? And that makes dating really awkward?" Hayden asked.

"So long as you don't date anyone in your own cabin, it's fine." Annabeth said, but she had scooted a little farther from me on the couch.

We finished our story about the second Titan War, much to the awe of Hayden and Trinity.

"And I thought winning Nationals was big..." Hayden commented, "But _this? _This is just... insane!" We all shrugged.

"Like we said, you get used to it." Nico said grimly.

"If you live that long." Thalia grumbled. Beside me, Annabeth yawned.

"It's getting really late. Why don't we all talk about this more tomorrow after school?" She said. I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, Mom'll get mad at me if I stay out past curfew again." With that, we all bade Hayden and Trinity goodnight and set them home.

* * *

The others went about their nighttime routines while I helped Annabeth wrap up her ankle again. For some reason she didn't want to take off the napkins.

"They're covered in blood, you should really take them off." I said and reached for one but she slapped my hand away.

"Really Percy, leave them." She said sternly. I held up my hands in surrender.

"Ok, ok, I give." She thanked me, and finished wrapping her ankle. When she tried to stand up and put weight on that foot, she stumbled and I caught her.

"Thanks," She said and leaned heavily against my shoulder. Instead of helping her limp to bed, which would only put more strain on her, I swung her up into my arms and carried her back to her room while her roommates argued amongst themselves in the bathroom. She held on tightly to my neck, and for once she didn't protest to being the "damsel in distress". Odd...

Ever so gently I set her down on her bed. Just as I was about to leave, she reached out and gripped my wrist.

"Please don't leave yet," She whispered. I looked back. In the darkness her eyes were still shining, "I don't want to be alone." She looked so scared for some reason. What else could I do but stay? I sat down next to her and hugged her tightly. She rested her head on my chest and closed her eyes.

"Percy?"

"Hm?"

"If I had become a Hunter, what would you have done?" Oh gods had that scared me! I silently played with one of her curls while I thought about my answer.

"I would have begged you to break your oath." I finally said, "There's no way I'd be able to just let you go, I love you too much." Was it just me or could I feel her heartbeat?

"I love you too, Percy." There was something weird about her voice. She sounded strained, and whimpering. Like she was in pain...

"Do you need more nectar?" She shook her head.

"I can't, I'll spontaneously combust." Annabeth was trying to make it sound like a joke but it just wasn't working out so well. I just squeezed her tighter to me.

"Percy?" She asked again.

"Hm?"

"Promise you'll never leave me?" She whispered.

"Promise."


	15. Doctor Jackson

**A/N I'm so sorry this one's late. I got writer's block. Anyways, I couldn't get the plot to line up so I edited the last chapter just a bit. You might want to read that first to understand this chapter a little better. I promise I won't take so long on the next chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

**Percy POV**

Annabeth fell asleep pretty quick after that. By then it was already eleven. Mom was gonna _kill_ me! Thalia (after arguing with me in a whisper about how Athena was going to send me straight to the Fields of Punishment) promised to watch Annabeth over night.

Just as I'd suspected, Mom was mad. Well, maybe mad isn't the right word. She was overly worried, scared, and on top of it all exhausted. Once I told her about Annabeth, all of her worry for _me_ was replaced with worry for her (which I was all for!)

* * *

Amazingly enough, I got up early that morning! Shocking, I know. By the time I was dressed and out the door, I still had a good few minutes before Annabeth usually woke up!

I figured that since walking to school would put strain on her ankle, Annabeth might want to be driven to school today. It was this logic that convinced my mom to lend me her car for the day. Within minutes I was at their door. Annabeth had given me a spare key when she moved in, so I just walked in. I hadn't expected anyone to be up at six in the morning, but here was Rachel in her weird kimono robe thing, making coffee in the kitchen.

"Percy?" She asked, "What're you doing here?" She yawned.

"I'm here for Annabeth." Rachel looked up at the wall clock.

"You do realize school doesn't start for two more hours, right?" I nodded.

"I just figured I'd come by, wake her up, we could have a nice, leisurely morning or something?" Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Ok, Casablanca. She's still sleeping, everyone's decent, go on back." She relented, and returned to her coffee making. I smiled at her, and then walked back to the hallway.

Their room was pitch black. Thinking back on it, it probably wasn't the best idea to open up the curtains and wake up an angry Hunter with deadly arrows. Lucky for me, the Curse of Achilles was still in affect.

"Hey!" I protested as one of her arrows bounced of my shoulder, "That could have killed me if you shot me in the right spot!"

"Well then don't wake me up!" She growled and stomped out of the room.

"Wha?" Juniper yawned and stretched in her bed, "Morning already? I'll go wake up Grover. The old goat couldn't function without me…" She started muttering to herself as she walked down the hall to Grover's room. Huh, that's weird. Annabeth's still sleeping. I bent down and shook her shoulder.

"Annabeth," I said, "Annabeth come on. Wake up." She didn't make a sound. Her eyes were still closed tight. I shook her shoulder a little harder.

"Annabeth, school." I said. She still didn't move. This was starting to freak me out, "Annabeth!" I yelled. No answer, "SPIDERS, ARACHNE, APOLLO IN A SKIRT!" Still nothing. I threw off her covers, and my heart stopped beating at what I saw. Annabeth's pajama pants had rolled up during the night, and the bandages had loosened, giving me a clear view of exactly what had happened to her leg last night. A large bite mark was wrapped around her ankle, and the puncture marks were black. Her skin was red and swollen. You could see black veins going up her leg, where the poison had traveled. Annabeth had been bitten by a _ker._

"Oh gods…" I'd been scratched by one a while back, and Nico had told me that if they weren't treated with godly powers soon…

"SOMEONE CALL APOLLO NOW!" I yelled. My fingers searched her wrist to find a pulse. It was there, but it was so faint I almost couldn't tell. Why hadn't Annabeth told anyone?! She must have known what this poison does! It must have been affecting her brain or something.

"Percy what's… oh my…" Thalia rushed into the room and saw why I was freaking out, "Please tell me she's still…"

"Yeah, but barely. Ugh, SOMEONE CALL APOLLO NOW!" I yelled. Panic was starting to make my throat close up. I gripped her hand, and realized that my palms were sweating, "Aw Annabeth, please…"

"Someone call the god of awesomeness?" Apollo burst into the room with a proud grin on his face, "Sorry I took so long, Aphrodite wanted me to wait longer so that things were more intense…" He trailed off when he caught sight of Annabeth, "Ouch, that must hurt."

"Please, fix her!" I said. He stepped forward and examined the wound.

"What bit her?"

"A _ker."_ Nico said, "Last night."

"Last night! I'm surprised she's still hanging on." Apollo said and cracking his knuckles, "Ok children, stand back." He held his palms over her leg. A warm glow shone over her wounds. We all watched as the poison in her blood receded and the bite faded into eight small round scars. Apollo was frowning in concentration as he worked.

After what felt like hours, he put his hands down. Nico sighed in relief.

"That was close. She was on the edge." He said. Apollo straightened up and brushed off his cargo shorts.

"She'll live, but it'll be a few hours before she wakes up." He said and pointed at me, "You sir, are lucky that Athena was there when I got the call, otherwise Aphrodite would have chained me to a rock until you started crying." I winced. That would have been bad. I sent a silent thanks to Athena.

"Thanks Lord Apollo, we owe you one." Rachel said. He winked at her, and then his eyes got big and wide.

"This will make an _epic_ couplet." Silena, Travis, and Connor were able to make it out, but the rest of us got stuck when he started.

"_Pretty blonde girl almost dies_

_Amazing Apollo saves her before her boyfriend cries."_ He finished with a bow.

"That's great, well done. Well we have school so we must be going, thanks again!" Rachel said and quickly ushered him away.

"Put her on bed rest for the day!" He yelled as he left.

"Hey Perce, why don't you stay here with Annabeth? We'll get you guy's homework and stuff." Grover said. I just nodded.

When everyone was out of the house, I pulled up a chair next to her bed and sat down. My thumb gently caressed the back of her hand while she slept. The color had returned to her face and her breathing had steadied. Before long, I was fast asleep, still holding her hand.

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

I felt like I'd been run over by Mrs. O'Leary, and then gotten hit with lava from the climbing wall. Everything was sore from my head all the way down to my toes. Why was it so bright in here? And why was my hand so sweaty? Memories from last night were slowly making their way back into my head.

Oh gods… the bite, the poison! I sat up straight and threw off my covers. My leg… it was… fine? How did that happen? Something stopped my hand from lifting to move my bangs out of my eyes.

My idiotically sweet boyfriend was sitting in my desk chair beside my bed, leaning his head forward on my mattress. His hand gripped mine in his sleep and a small trail of drool was on the corner of his mouth. I'll admit, that quirk was starting to grow on me. At this moment however, it was still kind of gross.

"Percy," I whispered and shook his shoulder, "Percy," I said a little bit louder. He snorted and started to blink, "Well aren't you lovely?" I said with a smirk. He sat up straight and yawned. The light bulb went off over his head and his eyes flew open. Before I could say another word he tackled me in a bear-worthy hug.

"Thank the gods," He murmured into my ear.

"Gee, nice to see you too." I chuckled and squeezed him back. He pulled back a bit to look me in the eye.

"Do you have any idea how freaked out I've been? You were _this_ close to dying on me!" His voice cracked when he said 'dying'. My hands pressed the sides of his face as I leaned forward to kiss him.

"Well I assure you I'm very much alive, thank you." I said, "Looks like you found the bite in time." He nodded.

"Barely. Apollo came and healed you this morning."

"I noticed," I said with a smile. Then I pecked him one more time before attempting to stand up.

"Wait a sec," Percy pulled me back down, "Just where do you think you're going?" He asked with a disapproving smirk.

"To stand up, get dressed, you know. Normal things people do when they wake up. We probably have to be at school soon anyways." He shook his head.

"Nope. Apollo strictly said that you are on bed rest today. Besides, school started two hours ago." He said it proudly. While everyone else was in math class, he got to be here. When Percy saw the look on my face, he quickly added, "But Grover will bring your homework home." That made things just a bit better…

"I've been in bed all day, Percy." I protested.

"It hasn't been all day yet." He retaliated. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm well enough to stand up." But again, when I tried to stand up he pushed me back down. I huffed, "Percy, this could become a problem and I am _really_ not up for beating you today." He just smiled.

"Uh-uh. You, my lovely, are currently under the care of Dr. Jackson, and I forbid you from getting up until at least…" He looked at his bare wrist as though he was wearing a watch, "Eight o'clock tonight." I propped myself up on my elbows with a grin on my face.

"Dr. Jackson, huh? My mother will like that." He just rolled his eyes.

"Do I look like a son of Apollo to you?" He asked. Nope, you look way better.

"Well if I can't get up, would _Dr. Jackson_ like to get me some water?"

"Nope." I raised an eyebrow, "You're gonna have to pay me first." He said with a mischievous smile and wiggly eyebrows.

"Maybe I could just beat you up…" He pouted.

"Come on, Wise Girl, just one little kiss and I'll go get you some water."

"What if the solution to the poison is godly healing powers _and_ water, and if you keep procrastinating I die?" I said.

"I'm not that stupid."

"You don't know that." We had a stare down for a few seconds before he just sighed and gave in.

"Why do you have to win absolutely everything?" He muttered as he walked out. I smirked and leisurely crossed my arms behind my head. Within a few seconds he was back with a glass of water.

"Your water, your Highness," He said begrudgingly as he bowed and handed me the glass.

"Thank you, Doctor." In response, he rolled his eyes yet again.

"Yeah, yeah. Drink up." He perched on the edge of my bed.

"Hey Percy?" I asked.

"Hm?" The water glass clinked on my side table as I set it down. Percy just looked at me with his cute, confused expression as I put my hand on the back of his neck and pulled him towards me so that I could kiss him. His arms wrapped tightly around my waist as I braided my fingers through his hair.

"Thanks," I whispered when we came up for air.

"For the water?" I just laughed at his cute obliviousness.

"No, for… everything in general."

"Well that narrows it down." He laughed, "You should get some rest." Percy said while planting a kiss on my forehead. I squeezed his hand.

"You're the doctor." I leaned back on my pillow and watched as he took his seat on the chair again, "You can sit with me if you want, that can't be comfortable." He shrugged.

"It beats being incinerated by your mother." This is true. However…

"Percy, just get over here." I said in exasperation, "And if you make me argue with you I'll make you get me more water." He smirked.

"At your service, O Godly One." He said and got up to laid down next to me. His arms snaked around my shoulders as I rested my head in the crook of his neck. His shirt smelled fresh, like the ocean. It was a very Percy-like smell.

"Night, Wise Girl." He whispered.

"Night, Seaweed Brain."


	16. Finally

**A/N Sorry, I got writer's block. This chapter's more of a filler than anything else so... yup. Next one will be better I promise!**

* * *

**Silena POV**

I cannot believe Annabeth almost died on us! Gods, Percy would have been devastated. Everyone would have just… ugh I don't even want to think about it! Point is that she's ok. Onto our next issue: Hayden and Trinity.

Well, they're two issues in one. For one thing, they know about us! We have to keep an eye one them for a while, and answer every question they ask about everything. Plus, they're totally in love! Well, I was the only one preoccupied with that issue. Even Charlie was more worked up about them knowing than the fact that they were in love! Ah, but that was to be expected.

Anyways, here we are by our lockers just after the final bell. Trinity and Hayden are totally pummeling us with questions about being demigods. I mean sure, I did that too when I first found out about all this Greek stuff, but geez! At least give us a minute to eat before you ask about the lava wall!

"So I'm confused. If Annabeth totally hated Percy…" Hayden was confused on the whole tale of "Percabeth".

"Ok, we need to start from the beginning with the expert telling it." I said, and cracked my fingers very professionally.

"It all started when Annabeth was seven years old…" And so, I wove the wonderful tale of how Annabeth met and fell in love with Luke, who later fell in love with her when he turned evil. Percy comes into the picture, they become best friends and after many series of events they finally ended up together.

"Speaking of which, we'd better get back to those two." Nico looked at his watch, "It's after 3."

"I don't know if I want to go home. They've been alone _all_ day…"

"Ew, ew, no, don't even start with me, Juniper." Thalia covered her ears, "Maiden over here!"

"Ok, you can stay at school all day while we go home." Nico said, "I'm giving rides, who's coming?"

"But… you're a freshman?" Trinity said. He raised an eyebrow.

"Who said I was driving?"

"Uh, Nico? I don't think that shadow travel is a very good idea for mortals." Charlie said, "You guys go home via… that and Silena and I will drive, right sweetie?"

"Right!" The four of us piled into Percy's car (Shh, he doesn't know the Stolls took it) and drove home while the others shadow traveled with Nico.

When we got there, everyone was crowded in the living room, but there was no sign of the happy couple.

"Please don't tell me they got kidnapped or something." I said. Everyone shook their heads.

"Nah, they're in Annabeth's room. We didn't want to wake them up." Nico was smirking. Smirk means something interesting.

"If you'll excuse me for a moment…" I said with a wink and slipped down the hall.

"Don't forget your camera!" Clarisse yelled.

"Silena, I don't think we should…"

"Shh," I shushed my boyfriend; "They'll thank me later." Maybe. Ever so slowly, I creaked the door open.

Inside the room, it was pretty dark. From a crack in the curtains you could faintly make out Percy and Annabeth though. The two of them were lying down on Annabeth's bed. Percy had his arms wrapped around Annabeth, and his face buried in her hair while she rested her head on his chest.

"Aw," I whispered, and snapped a picture. Charlie smiled and put an arm around my shoulders.

"Let them sleep," He whispered, "They had a rough morning."

"You're telling me." I muttered before closing the door and walking back down the hall hand in hand with Charlie.

**Percy POV**

_Why does my bedroom smell like lemon soap?_ I thought randomly to myself. My eyes squinted open and I realized something rather important.

I wasn't in my room, and I wasn't alone.

Then I remembered this morning, which pretty much got rid of my confusion. Annabeth was fast asleep beside me. Her head was buried in the crook of my neck and her arms were wrapped tightly around my waist.

It was hard not to smile down at Annabeth. She looked so peaceful when she was sleeping. My fingers absently played with a loose strand of her hair as she dreamed away…

After a little while, her eyes stared to blink open.

"Morning," I muttered. She squinted up at me.

"Morning," Her voice made me want to melt, "Am I allowed to get up yet?" She asked. I looked down at my imaginary watch.

"Hm… one more minute…" Annabeth rolled her eyes and sat up anyways.

"Come on, Seaweed Brain."

The two of us walked hand in hand to the living room where we were greeted by, well, everyone.

"Hey look! The lovebirds are awake!" Connor said, making me and Annabeth blush.

"Have a nice nap?" Thalia asked. Her bright blue eyes were light with amusement and triumph. Oh boy this would be fun…

"Did you guys…?" I gestured down the hall. All of a sudden everyone was very interested in their shoes, keys, iPods…

"Nope, never saw a thing." Nico said briskly while examining his skull ring.

"Not a peek." Travis promised, but he wouldn't look either of us in the eye.

"Is that so?" Annabeth crossed her arms, "Well then would _somebody_ like to explain what I just found on Silena's camera?" She swung the silver camera from the tip of her finger, with an eyebrow raised.

"It was Travis!" Silena said, pointing a finger.

"Whoa, wait, what?! It's Silena's camera!"

"Clarisse told her to get the camera!"

"Well Nico's the one who told them where they were!"

"ENOUGH!" Well look at that, Annabeth's mad at someone who's not me. What a refreshing twist of events, "I don't care who did it, point is that you all saw, I know this for a fact."

"It was just Silena!"

"We didn't see anything!"

"Oh please," She rolled her eyes, "Rachel, Juniper, and Thalia's stuff is all in the room which means they were there. There are _hoof prints_ on the carpet, Beckendorf would never leave Silena's side, Silena took the photo," She gestured again to the camera, "Katie left her phone on my nightstand and it was not there when you guys left this morning. Hayden, I could smell the chlorine the second I woke up and Trinity would have followed, don't you deny it!" She said as Trinity opened her mouth, "Chris you're a terrible liar, and Clarisse would have had to drag you with her. And do I really need to explain the Stolls?" No she did not.

Everyone just stared at her in shock. Finally, I decided to break the ice.

"Haha, my girlfriend's smart!" Which of course led to a chorus of…

"Mine can grow flowers in the bathtub!"

"Mine's mother is a goddess!"

"Well so is mine!"

"MY GIRLFRIEND'S A TREE!"

And of course, that changed the subject immediately.

"So Trinity," Rachel began over a fabulous dinner of pizza, "You've always been able to see through the Mist?" She nodded.

"Yep, always. I never even noticed anything was wrong until I pointed out a hellhound to my dad when I was two, and he said that it was a very lovely poodle." How hellhounds can turn into poodles, I'll never know, "Later on they started sending me to therapy about it because, I mean, when you scream and point out a snake lady in your school, things are bound to get a little edgy." This is true, "So, I learned to keep my mouth shut. Thank goodness I'm not going crazy!"

"Speak for yourself, I'm talking to a bunch of demigods, a nymph, and a sheep boy."

"GOAT!" Grover bleated, "I'm part GOAT, does this fur look like sheep's wool to you?" He cried at Hayden.

"Chill out, Grover. I thought you were a *donkey, remember?" I said.

"I still haven't forgiven you for that…"

"So anyways," Rachel interrupted, "There are a lot of mortals that can see through the Mist. Percy's mom can, right?" I nodded.

"And Luke's mom could." Annabeth added in.

"Why is it that all these conversations somehow get Luke involved?" I wondered out loud. Oops.

"Are you seriously still jealous?" Honestly? Not really. Unless he magically walked right out of the Underworld like someone had left the door open, no I was not.

"Not anymore." I said, put tightened my arm around Annabeth's shoulders just for good measure. In response, she rolled her eyes and kissed my cheek.

**Trinity POV **

After another hour or two of questions about all this Greek stuff, Hayden offered to drive me home for the night. Behind his back, Silena gave me a thumbs up.

"So…" Hayden said as we walked down the street towards his car, "You're really ok with all of this?" He asked. I nodded.

"I've dealt with seeing monsters all my life. This is actually a relief, to know that there's an explanation finally." He just nodded. In the moonlight, his hair hand turned a sort of corn-silk blonde. I found it rather handsome. We finally found his car, and hopped in.

"So uh, Trin?" He said after a moment of awkward silence.

"Hm?" I kept my eyes trained down at my hands.

"You know how we have that swim meet next Thursday?" Oh my god, was he seriously…

"Yeah?" I peeked up at him, and he was blushing.

"Well afterwards, a few of us are gonna go out. You know, Percy and Annabeth, Grover and Juniper, Beckendorf and Silena, Chris and Clarisse, and Travis and Katie." Group date, huh?

"Yes?"

"Well I was sort of hoping that maybe you'd want to go… like with me?" His voice broke on that last word. I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing and teasing him about it like I normally do.

"Like a date?" I clarified. Boy would it be awkward if I thought it was a date, and he didn't.

"Yeah, a date." He said. On the inside, I was absolutely bursting with happiness. Oh my god it finally happened! I could run screaming down the street right now!

"Yeah, that sounds great." He looked up in shock.

"Wait, seriously?" I nodded.

"Absolutely." A wide grin broke out on his face.

"Awesome, I'll um… I'll pick you up before the meet then!" He said as we pulled up to my house.

"Ok, great. See you then!" I said, and waved as he drove away.

FINALLY! I had to call Silena…

* * *

***Thanks xMidnightHunter1553x for pointing out my little oops right there! :) **


	17. Couples Only

**A/N I'm so sorry this is late, I have such a bad case of writer's block it's almost not funny. Seriously, I spent nearly an hour just staring at my computer screen, totally blank on absolutely all of my stories. But hey, you guys got an extra long chapter out of it! If you have any tips to break the curse that is Writer's Block, let me know!**

**ALSO! Have any of you read FAKE by MaydayParade8123? If you haven't, you have to. It is the BEST STORY ON FANFICTION! Seriously, go read it, it's awesome!**

* * *

**Annabeth POV**

"I'll be cheering for you guys," I said with a kiss on Percy's nose. Today was the day of Goode High's meet against their biggest rival school. Currently, I was standing in the hall outside the boys locker room with my boyfriend, wishing him and the team the best (but of course Percy would help their winning cause, the cheater).

"And by you guys, you mean mainly me, right?" Percy asked with that teasing glint in his eyes. In response, I simply kissed him.

"Good luck out there, _you guys_." I accentuated the two words, making Percy stick his tongue out at me as I walked down the hall, to the pool where the stands were already filling with fans, even though the meet didn't start for another half hour. Thalia had saved me a seat up at the top of the rows where we had a perfect view of the pool and all participants. Trinity sat beside her, her cheeks flushed with excitement.

"So, remind me again why only me, Rachel, Nico, and Connor are not allowed to come with tonight?" Thalia asked, half bitter and half amused.

"It's a group _date_. We can't have single people hanging around with us, now can we Trinity?" She giggled.

"That's right, couples only." You could feel her happiness in being able to say the word _couples _and being including herself in that.

"I'm really happy for you and Hayden, really, but honestly! Is it really hard to have an extra three people? We're going to be stuck all night with Nico and Connor!" She pouted.

"We're going to be doing all sorts of couple-y things like staring into each other's eyes over pizza, sharing milkshakes with two straws, footise under the table, kissing when we think nobody's looking…" I teased. Thalia winced, and faked gagging.

"Message received. Single people stay out." I hugged her shoulders.

"You knew we love you guys, but it's Trinity and Hayden's first date." I lowered my voice so that Trinity wouldn't hear, even though her attention had already been diverted to Silena, "Besides, Percy told me that he's going to be Hayden's boyfriend example for the night, so that things go smoothly with Trin, you know?" She nodded.

"Ok, ok, I get it. We'll just stay home and play checkers or something." She muttered.

"If it makes it better, Clarisse is being forced into going, and her night will probably be as miserable as yours." She brightened just a bit.

"Yeah, that helps a little." I shook her shoulder affectionately and turned my attention back to the pool. The other team had entered and begun practicing.

"They're pretty good," Grover said, earning a disapproving look from his girlfriend, "What? I'm just stating the obvious over here!" Oh Grover…

"Percy will beat all of them, I'm sure." I stated proudly.

"Well duh, he'll probably cheat that sneaky little…" Clarisse started mumbling. I nearly kicked her shoulder, but before I could (and that probably saved me from some brutal punches) the announcer came on.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Goode High!" Cheering, and more cheering, and more cheering. There were a lot of people in here. Most were from Goode, but a few came to support the opposing team, "And now I'm proud to introduce… the Goode High Swim Team!" The screams were almost ear-splittingly painful as the guys jogged out from the hallway in their warm-up suits. Percy and Hayden came out last, side by side.

"WHOO! HAYDEN!" Trinity yelled. Hayden looked up, blushed and waved to her with a happy, in love expression that was all too familiar. Percy had it too, every time he looked at me.

"Percy!" I cheered. His eyes locked with mine, and he smirked up at me. Playing into his overdramatic side, he put both hands up to his mouth and blew me a kiss. I laughed and rolled my eyes at his cheesiness.

"Jackson!" Coach Xeno called, "Flirt with your girlfriend later! Get over here!" He barked. Percy sent me one last kiss, and speed walked to where Coach was talking with the team.

"Oh he is _so_ gonna regret all that later," Connor said with an evil grin on his face, "Travis, I'm gonna go get a different angle. You keep that camera pointed at him at all times!" Travis saluted his twin before turning back to the pool. Only then did I notice the sleek, silver camera in his hand. You'd think we were all in some type of reality show…

"Swimmers, to the pool!" The announcer called. Percy's heat was up first. Him, along with two other guys on his team took off their warm-up sweats and took their stance at the side of the pool. Two girls and a guy from the other team got in position beside them. I must say, I was not happy when I saw the girl swimmer closest to Percy turn to say something to him. My boyfriend just looked confused at whatever it was she said.

"Easy, girl." Rachel said, and gripped my wrist. Huh, I'd been reaching for my dagger. Oops.

"Hey Rachel, do you see…" Trinity got cut off as the announcer came back on.

"On your marks, get set, GO!" The swimmers dove into the water. Percy was in the lead, by far. He was turning around just as the others hit the halfway mark on their first lap.

"We love you Percy!" A gaggle of freshman girls yelled, revealing that their shirts each had an individual letter on it, spelling out the words _We Love Percy!_ Talk about desperation, they didn't even deserve for me to be jealous. That one swimmer girl though…

Percy finished his run with a new school record officially broken! Cheers erupted all up and down the bleachers. He climbed up out of the water, where the team promptly ambushed him with congratulations. Then swimmer girl climbed out of the pool, and started walking towards my boyfriend. A growl came from the back of my throat.

"Rachel!" Trinity squeaked in fear. Her eyes were shining with horror, and she was squeezing the Oracle's arm like there was no tomorrow.

"I see it, Trin." Rachel said before turning to me with a serious look in her bright green eyes, "Annabeth, get down there. Now." I had learned not to question her. Within a few seconds my knife was in my hand, and I was jumping down the steps two at a time. That swimmer girl had caught up with Percy, and now looked like she was congratulating him. Percy looked suspicious, and confused. I jumped off of the bleachers, and my feet slapped on the wet tile floor.

As I watched, the girl morphed into a familiar, and terrifying creature. Her skin was pale white, and her lips glowed red like her eyes. One of her legs quite resembled Grover's, while the other was brass. An _empousa_.

"Percy!" I yelled, and ran as fast as I could towards him. Riptide was still in his jeans pocket in his locker. He was weaponless against her. The mortals in the room were starting to notice that something was up. The team backed up as the _empousa_ started towards Percy. She was purring something to him, making him look conflicted. Ugh, boys!

I reached the two then, and sunk my knife into her shoulder. The _empousa _shrieked in protest, and clawed at me, making a pretty deep cut in my left shoulder. I groaned in protest, but didn't stop fighting.

"No one flirts with my boyfriend!" I said, and slashed at her, catching the edge of her chin with the tip of my blade. She hissed in protest.

"We shall see, Daughter of Athena." She raised her arm to cut my with her claws again, but then Percy jumped in and tackled her to the ground. She growled, and her fingernails caught his chest, making blood sprout. Percy was biting his lip to keep from crying out in pain. With a final swing of my knife, the _empousa _was monster dust.

"Percy, get in the water." I commanded. He did as I asked, trying to staunch the blood flow from his wounds. The second he hit the pool, the cuts began to fade away.

"You're hurt," He said, putting a gentle hand on my arm.

"It's fine, just a scratch." I said, wincing. He frowned, but didn't argue with me, not yet that is. Katie and Juniper rushed over to pour some nectar on my cuts. Percy gave me his jacket to hide my bloody t-shirt. I thanked him with a smile.

All around us, the mortals were starting to panic. Beckendorf and the Stolls had blocked the exits so that Thalia could go around and work her Mist Magic on the crowd without anyone running out, screaming.

"It's ok folks, you're not going to remember anything after Percy breaking that record, please return to your seats, everything's just fine." Slowly, the mortals calmed down and returned to cheering for the fully healed Percy Jackson.

"Way to go, Perce!" Hayden shouted, "And I'm just going to let the fact that Annabeth totally stabbed one of our rivals, slide for now!" He said in the same enthusiastic voice, though hushed down so that only we heard.

"Well done, Seaweed Brain." I congratulated him, "You broke yet another record. How do you do it?" I teased. He gently picked me up and kissed my nose.

"My Wise Girl's always there for me," He said. I was pretty sure he didn't just mean about swimming.

"Always," I agreed. He smiled brightly, and kissed me right there, in front of his team, the rivals, and a room filled with mortals. But we didn't even notice.

**Percy POV**

Annabeth traced circles on my palm underneath the table. Me and her, Grover and Juniper, Beckendorf and Silena, Katie and Travis, Clarisse and Chris (much to her discontent), and of course Trinity and Hayden were all sitting at one of those circular corner booths at an Italian place twenty minutes away from home (since Annabeth was pretty adamant about going back to Antonio's, not that I blamed her of course).

All night I'd been helping Hayden out on his first date with Trinity. It wasn't his first date, but I could tell that this one meant a lot more to him than any other he'd been on.

First, I'd given Annabeth my jacket as we walked from our parking spots to the restaurant. Hayden had thankfully caught onto the hint.

Then I complimented Annabeth on how gorgeous she was looking tonight (even though she was always gorgeous).

At some point when our pizza's got to the table, I dropped all the hints and returned to my usual teasing manner with my girlfriend. Hayden had caught on, and was doing pretty well on his own. We started talking about all of the stupid things our significant others had done. Annabeth had talked the most, so far. Chris smartly decided to stay silent. To be honest, I couldn't really think of anything to say.

"And then, this idiot decides that it's absolutely fine for him to go blow up a cruise ship!" Silena said.

"Hey, but it worked!" Beckendorf protested, slinging an arm around his girlfriend, "And I came back, just like I promised!" He said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Barely," I snorted, earning an elbow to the rib via Annabeth.

"Not. Helping." She hissed. Before I could apologize for being oblivious, the waiter came back.

"And how are we doing?" He asked in a stupid Australian accent. Dude, this is an Italian place, get your countries straight!

"Fine, thanks." I said flatly. Annabeth turned to me with a raised eyebrow.

"Let me give you a refill, _sir."_ He said, and leaned across the table to pour more water into my cup. To do that, he had to lean across _my _girlfriend. The dumb waiter (Haha, word play) slipped a wink at her, and flexed the muscles on his arm. She glared at him in response.

"Sorry, _Bella_," He said, with a final wink and retreated back to the kitchen.

"Her name isn't _Bella." _I mocked his tone.

"It's Italian for pretty, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said, "You aren't jealous, are you?" She asked.

"Who, me? Of the large waiter man with the fancy accent that calls you pretty in different lang—" She cut me off with a swift kiss on the lips.

"You ramble when you're jealous," She said, her nose scrunching up in a really cute way.

"Do not." I muttered.

"You do too."

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not times infinity!"

"You can't multiply times infinity because infinity isn't a real number, it's a term used for an endless amount." She smirked smugly, knowing that she'd just won.

"Enough with all this lovey-dovey stuff!" Clarisse finally said, "You make me want to barf."

"Make sure you aim for the waiter," I said before kissing Annabeth again.

"He's not a monster, right Trinity?" Juniper asked nervously.

"Hm?" Trinity blinked and looked up from her conversation with Hayden, "Oh, him? Nope, he's mortal."

"Aw, so I can't hit him with my sword?" I pouted. Annabeth patted my shoulder.

"No, Percy. It won't do anything anyways." Hayden raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"It's celestial bronze, it can't hurt mortals." Travis explained, "Which is kind of sad." It was weird how he was so calm without his brother around. Katie must bring that out in him.

"What? I've seen your sword, there's no way that thing can't hurt." Trinity said.

"It's true, want to see?" Clarisse asked.

"No, they don't!" Chris said quickly, taking her hand in his so that she didn't cause any harm. Wow, he could calm her too. Interesting, I had to talk with Annabeth about that later…

Oh great, Mr. Fancy Australian Waiter Man is back. I brought my arm up from under the table and put it protectively around Annabeth.

"Can I get you anything else?" He asked us, mostly Annabeth. Uh oh, she's got that evil look in her eyes that she gets when she's planning something…

"Actually yes," She said, batting her eyelashes at him. What the? He leaned his elbows on the edge of the table, much to the distaste of Katie and Travis. Yuck! I could smell his cheap cologne from over here.

"And what would that be, _Bella?_" He asked with a wink. Annabeth threw in a girlish giggle. I swear if this doesn't start making sense soon…

"Do you cater?" Ok, I'm officially lost. Haha, so was Waiter Man!

"Um… I don't believe so…" He was confused at first, but then regained his regal composure, "But perhaps I can convince the manager into allowing me a house call?" He said, with yet another wink. Annabeth's face brightened.

"Really? That would be wonderful!" She turned and grabbed my shoulder, "Did you hear that, Sweetie?" Sweetie? Really? She turned back to Mr. Australian, "Percy and I have been searching for _forever_ for someone to cater our wedding reception." Whoa, wait, WHAT?! Back up for a second! When did I propose?! Not that I wouldn't ever, but, I mean we're only sophomores! Oh man what would my mom say…

"Oh," Mr. Man straightened up, and coughed nervously, "You're rather young, aren't you?" He asked. She shrugged.

"What does age matter when you're in love?" She said giddily, "Right, honey?" She turned to me, and gave me that look that said _Play along! _Oh, I get it now…

"Right!" I leaned forward and kissed her cheek, "Ever since we were twelve I knew I loved her, what's the point in waiting any longer when I already know we're going to end up together?" Oh that's just great, Travis is holding a camera.

Australian Waiter Boy cleared his throat awkwardly, "Er, good for you. I'll, uh… ask the manager." He said, and took the walk that I had officially deemed the Walk of Shame.

When he was finally out of earshot, Travis burst into laughter.

"That was _epic!_ Wait till everyone at camp sees this!" He said, turning the still rolling camera on me and Annabeth, "So, when's the big day you two?"

"Oh shut up, Travis!" A cherry-red Annabeth said, "It was the only way to get rid of him."

"Uh-huh, sure. So tell me, who's the best man? Don't you dare say Connor!"

"Well duh, it's gonna be me!" Grover said, "I'm his best goat!"

"Hello, swim team second-in-command over here!"

"But I'd make his bachelor party the party of the century! Me and Connor would totally—" He shut up when Annabeth glared at him.

"Oh yeah? Well my girlfriend's clear-sighted!"

"Mine can turn your girlfriend's hair into daisies!"

"Once again, MY GIRLFRIEND IS A TREE!"

"Guys!" Annabeth yelled, "Shut up!" She looked so red, I bet steam would have to come out of her ears just to get her back to her normal coloring.

"But if you were gonna get married, I'd be the maid of honor, right?" Silena whispered loudly. One look from Annabeth, and she was silent again. Clarisse was the only one who dared to keep the smirk planted firmly on her face.

Things were a little less awkward when the dude came back and said the manager said no, but it was pretty obvious that he was lying. After that, we all laughed about it and returned to our previous contest of "Whose boyfriend is the most stupid?" Needless to say, Annabeth won.

Our group walked slowly to the cars that we'd parked a couple of blocks away. We walked in a sort of line, with each couple walking a couple of feet in front of or behind each other. Chris and Clarisse were at the head, having a burping contest with each other. And then Juniper and Grover that swung their hands between each other like an old married couple. Next in line were Travis and Katie. Travis had his arm swung casually over Katie's shoulder, and he was probably cracking a lot of jokes because she was laughing like crazy. Behind them were Silena and Beckendorf who weren't talking, just walking with their arms around each other. I'll admit it was kind of cute to watch. Every now and then Beckendorf would lean over and plant a kiss on the top of her head. Annabeth and I strolled behind them, holding and hands and talking like usual. Trinity and Hayden brought up the rear, and every now and then I would catch one of the girls sneaking a peek back at the happy new couple. Even Annabeth looked over her shoulder once or twice. Ok, three times actually.

"They really are cute together," She remarked. I nodded.

"It's about time, too." Annabeth chuckled. I remembered something I'd been thinking about during dinner, "Annabeth, it's official." I announced.

"And what would that be?" She asked in an amused voice.

"Chris, and Katie are secret gods." She raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Please enlighten me, Percy."

"Well," I began dramatically, "Chris has the ability to calm _Clarisse_. And Katie is able to make Travis act… un-Stoll-like."

"Un-Stoll-like?" Annabeth repeated.

"Yep, un-Stoll-like. Only people with godly powers are able to do that. Therefore, they are gods." Annabeth just rolled her eyes. Gods, she was adorable when she did that.

"You are _such _a Seaweed Brain, you know that?" She laughed, sounding like a bell.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Wise Girl…. Actually, it'll get you everywhere." I said, and kissed her.

The kiss was quick, interrupted by a low growl coming from across the road, in an alley. Everyone stopped walking.

"Did anyone else hear that?" Katie asked. We all nodded, and began taking out our weapons.

"Hayden, Trinity, Grover, and Juniper, go hide in that store over there." Annabeth jerked her head towards the 24/7 McDonald's a block down the street. Red eyes started to glow at us from the darkness of the alley. The four didn't hesitate, and were inside before Annabeth could say _Hellhounds!_

The furry dogs from Hades jumped from the shadows and attacked. _One, two, three…_ six hellhounds in all. Oh goody, just what we needed to finish off a romantic evening.

Considering the fact that they were outmatched, and their attempt on the surprise attack failed, the fight ended pretty easily. With a few good jabs and some fancy footwork from each of us, the monsters were dust within ten minutes or so. Annabeth huffed as she sheathed her knife.

"Six hellhounds in one sitting, and an _empousa _on top of that. I mean I knew we would have a strong scent, what with all of us being in one place for so long but _seriously?_" She complained.

"I can't complain, it's as good as training at camp." Clarisse said, the victory of war prominent on her face.

"It's so weird though, there's so many of them…" Annabeth's eyebrows were pushed together, the way they get when she's concentrating really hard.

"We can talk to Chiron in the morning or something." I said, squeezing Annabeth's arm, "For now, lets just go home and make sure Connor didn't blow anything important up."


	18. Closed

**A/N The chapters are getting shorter. The plot of the story was starting to fall apart, so it's time to wrap it up with this one. Only one more chapter after this one.  
Don't worry. The sequel will be much better ;) **

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**Annabeth POV**

The last thing you expect to come home to from a romantic date of hellhound fighting, is an _empousa_ fight.

"CAN WE GET A LITTLE HELP HERE?!" Connor yelled from the living room. The four non-demigods ducked into the hall as the rest of us pulled out our weapons.

"You've _got _to be kidding me!" Katie growled. Thalia, Nico, and Connor all stood in the center of the living room surrounding an _empousa_ in a track suit. She turned to face us, and I gasped.

"But we killed you this morning!" Travis cried. She cackled and turned on us.

"My patron has released me, now you shall pay!" And with that welcoming opening statement, she lunged at us. A stupid move, considering all of the weapons pointed at her. Unfortunately for us, she'd learned a few things from before, and managed to block all of our strikes at her.

"You're all fools," She said silkily, "Soon enough you will all perish, I'm doing you a favor. Let me kill you quickly, and painfully." She cooed. Immediately all the males in the room let their weapons fall to their sides.

"Oh great, now she flirts with all our boyfriends." Silena grumbled, "Oh well, bye bye!" She said, and with a final stab she got the _empousa_ in the chest, turning her to dust. The guys snapped out of it.

"What just happened?" Percy asked, his voice raising up an octave, "She was supposed to die earlier!" He wined and poked at a couple of scratches she'd managed to get in before Silena killed her.

"Go get the nectar," I sighed repetitively, "Thalia, what happened? And where's Rachel?"

"She's hiding in the bathroom." Thalia said, and winced as she staunched the blood flow from her leg, "At this rate we'll be out of nectar by next week!" Clarisse came into the living room holding a bottle of nectar and some ambrosia squares.

"Eat up, everyone." As we all munched on the godly food, I pondered what had just happened.

"That's impossible! She can't have reformed that quickly!"

"She mentioned a patron," Nico said, "Maybe she had help."

"Not many people are that powerful," This was getting much too serious.

"Listen, I'm gonna take Trinity home, ok?" Hayden said, "We'll see you guys Monday." We all muttered goodbyes as the couple left.

"It's a long ways from Tartarus to Manhattan. I don't understand how she reformed so quickly." Chris said, "I worked with the bad side for a while," he winced, "They don't have anyone that powerful anymore."

"Something's happening." I said grimly, "And whatever it is, it's worse than Kronos rising."

"We really need to talk to Chiron." Percy said. I reached over and slipped my hand into his.

"I'm going to Olympus tomorrow to check up on construction, I'll talk to one of the gods then." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Well, I'm going to bed. If we're going to be fighting more monsters, I need my battle rest." Clarisse said.

"Lets hope we live through the night." Connor muttered, earning a slap from… everyone.

* * *

"I don't think you understand what you're doing…" Stupid mortal…

"Ma'am, I've worked here for many, many years." He argued, "And I know how to follow orders. You are not allowed up."

"Obviously you're mistaken because I was up there just last week to discuss the renovations with my mother. My mother, _Athena_." The security guard at the Empire State Building crossed his arms.

"Miss Chase, I'm sorry. The doors are closed, and I've been given strict instructions not to open them again. Nobody is allowed up. That means you half-bloods too." I glared at him.

"I have a meeting for _today_ to check up on the rebuilding. When the Olympians come to you and ask why I wasn't up there, you better tell them the truth." I said coldly before turning on my heel and walking out. What was going on? All these monsters come after us, the _empousa _reforming, and now Olympus was closed! I had to call Chiron. Fast.

Since Percy had decided to skip this Olympus meeting and stay home (away from the wrath of my mother), I didn't have his all-powerful control over water. So I had to settle for some good old-fashioned fountain mist.

In a nearby park I found a fountain far enough away from all the mortals that I could make a quick call.

"_O Iris, please accept my offering. Chiron at Camp Half-Blood!"_ The rainbow shimmered and Chiron appeared in the center.

"Chiron!" I called. The old centaur turned around, holding his bow. Oops, caught him in the middle of archery.

"Annabeth, dear!" He turned for just a moment to the class I'd interrupted, "Class dismissed," he called quickly, to the delight of some of the year-rounders.

"Sorry to interrupt," I apologized, but he just shook his head.

"Always a pleasure, my dear." He said, "Now what can I do for you?"

"Chiron, it's a mess!" I cried out, "Of course there were going to be a ton of monsters after us, but this is just crazy! Just this weekend, we got attacked by hellhounds and an _empousa_! And not just that, I'm not allowed to go up to Olympus!" As I'd expected, he didn't look surprised. Chiron almost never looked surprised.

"Things are changing, Annabeth." He sighed, "I can't tell you everything just yet." That's certainly a new development.

"But Chiron, you tell me everything. What is it? I can handle it!" The old man just looked at me.

"Annabeth, all I can tell you is that Olympus is closed. Mr. D is gone, and we haven't been able to talk to any of the Olympians since… well, since Apollo came to heal you. Even Ms. Dare just IM'd me to tell me that her connection with the God of Prophecies was cut." I tucked some hair behind my ear.

"I have a bad feeling, Chiron. Something's about to happen. If it's something that can make the Olympians hide like this, then I doubt all of us should be so far from camp." Chiron rubbed his chin in thought.

"Your break begins in about a week, yes? Come to Camp then, we'll discuss things when you get here." His face was grim, and showed his age. I bit my lip.

"Are you sure we shouldn't leave earlier? Things are dangerous, I can feel it." HE shook his head.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure nothing will escalate within the next week. Enjoy your time at school while you can. I'll see all of you in a week." He said. Before I could say goodbye, he had cut the connection.

"What do you mean Olympus is closed?" Percy asked for the thousandth time.

"I mean it's _closed._ After hours, locked up, nobody allowed in or out, Willy Wonka's chocolate factory…" He frowned at me.

"I'm serious Annabeth."

"And I'm not?" Tensions were rising between all of us, and it was easy to tell.

"Easy, easy." Thalia said, "We'll get nowhere if we started fighting among each other. I think Chiron's right, and we just need to lay low for the next week until we can get to camp and sort things out." I rubbed my temples, feeling a migraine coming on.

"And I thought that this year we just _might_ be able to have a little peace." I looked up at the ceiling, "IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?!" I yelled. A muffled voice answered me.

"_Stop making so much noise before I call the cops_!" There was a pause of silence… then everyone burst out laughing.

It's nice to know that even in the middle of a crisis, we can find a way to laugh.

It felt really weird to just go back to school the next day. It was so… surreal. There was something big brewing out there in the world of Greek non-mythology and here we were… sitting in math class.

To make matters even worse, Calypso had slowly been regaining her courage. She had enough courage to bump me in the hallways and make all the papers fall out of my hands. She had the courage to attempt to curse at me in Greek (though she usually ended up giving me a compliment) and she had the courage to start making googly eyes at—not just my boyfriend—but all of our boyfriends just to irritate us. At this point, I'm over that mortal girl. We've got bigger things to worry about.

"Oh Percy!" None of us even flinched. She wasn't worth it, "My mom's jetting to a fashion show in Milan over break. Do you want to come with us?" Di immortals…

"Goodbye Calypso." He sighed, and continued walking with the rest of us down the hall.

"Percy wait!"

Yeah, we didn't wait. Besides, it was the last day before winter break. Tomorrow, we'd be heading to Camp again.


	19. He's Missing

**A/N I am soooo sorry! I was sick for a few days, and then I had a lot of work to catch up on, then registration, big week, I haven't had a chance to write! But I'm back, ready to go! Here is the final chapter of Goode Luck! Thanks to all of you who reviewed, followed, favorited, and just plain took the time to read it! Thanks, love to all of you! The sequel shall be entitled "Goode to Be Back". I have no clue when it'll come up so... just keep an eye out ;)  
~Dazed**

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**Percy POV**

"Bye mom!" I leaned in to kiss her cheek goodbye, "I'll see you in a few weeks!"

"Be safe! And do your homework!" She yelled from the door.

"I will!" Probably not, unless Annabeth decides she wants to get some work in that is.

It didn't take long for me to drive down to the apartment to pick everyone up. Trinity and Hayden had come to say goodbye.

The streets were caked in snow, so I got the great pleasure (please not my sarcasm) of walking five blocks to the lobby of their apartment building.

Everyone sat in the plush velvet seats around the room, talking in hushed whispers. You know something's up when the two Stoll brothers aren't trying to sneak a piece of gum from your backpack. When I walked in and the little bell above the door dinged, Annabeth was the first to stand up to greet me. A smirk was planted on her lips as she reached up and brushed snow out of my hair.

"Lets get going!" Katie said excitedly, "Miranda told me that the blossoms we've been growing along the roof are blooming." She grasped Travis's hand and pulled him up to the door.

"The Hunters said that they were gonna meet me this morning, and I don't want them killing any campers while I'm not there." Thalia said as she shouldered her bow. Hayden and Trinity stood up and each took turns hugging goodbye (or in Hayden's case, the manly too-cool-to-hug hug).

"Be careful, man." He said as he "hugged" me too.

"You too, and remember: whatever Trinity say goes." He rolled his eyes, but nodded in understanding.

"You got it."

"We'll be back in a week, ok?" Rachel said, "Stay safe." Trinity nodded.

"I'll let you know what monsters I see," She winked, but her face was tense.

"Come on, people! I've got some butts to kick!" Clarisse yelled as she opened the door and started walking.

"I guess that's my cue…" Chris muttered and ran after her. Annabeth reached over and twisted her fingers through mine.

"Have a good break," She said as she hugged Trinity one last time.

"You too," With a final wave, we were all out the door and into the freezing cold.

**Annabeth POV**

"Chiron, what aren't you telling me?" I demanded. The old centaur and I were sitting alone in the Big House. He'd insisted on talking to me alone. Percy had been adamant, but agreed when I'd promised to go swimming with him later (not reminding him of the fact that the water was below freezing).

"My dear," Chiron rubbed his eyebrows like he had a headache, "There are many things that are quite far beyond your… control."

"You can't just expect us all to sit around while the world goes to Hades!" He scratched his beard, "And where's Mr. D?" It occurred to me that the drunk, old fool was nowhere to be found. A guarded look came up on his face.

"Mr. D was called back to Olympus." He said.

_That's _new!

"Chiron! What is going on?" He looked up at me, looking as though he was staring into my coffin.

"Go to Percy, child."

"But Chiron…"

"Annabeth," He stopped me. His voice wasn't yelling or scolding, it was simply firm, "Go be with Percy." It had been a long time since I'd heard him sound so… serious.

"Ok." But the knot in my stomach only tightened.

"What'd he say?" Percy asked, standing from his seat on the porch. I just shook my head.

"Something bad is gonna happen, that's all he would tell me… in so many words." He grasped my hand as we walked down to the lake.

"We can go back and talk to him together tomorrow." He promised, "For now, lets go swimming!" I rolled my eyes and shoved his shoulder.

"There's not way I'm going in there we'll freeze!" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"You so sure about that?" There's that look again...

"Percy I swear to Athena if you—Ah!" He scooped me up and threw me into the water. Thankfully, he wasn't so dense that he forgot to make an air bubble and warm the water around us.

"You were saying?" He smirked, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"You're a Seaweed Brain."

"You know you love me,"

"You know I do."

"Love you too, Wise Girl."

After the campfire that night, Percy and I walked slowly back to our cabins.

"Promise?" He whined.

"I already…"

"Promise!"

"Yes! I have, several times!" He grinned and kissed my cheek.

"I'll hold you to that, you know."

"I'm sure you will."

"So… promise you'll go swimming for real tomorrow?" I shot him a look that shut him up.

"This is my cabin," I said as he attempted to walk past it… for the third time. But I'd been having too much fun fake-arguing with Percy.

"I'm not blind." He said, trying to steer me towards the Artemis cabin.

"If you want me to have enough energy to swim, I need to sleep." He pouted.

"Fine," We stopped in front of the door. For once I was glad we didn't have any windows on the front side of the cabin. Malcolm would probably shoot Percy with an arrow if he saw him touch my face like this. My boyfriend bent down and pressed his lips against mine.

I suddenly felt a surge of fear. I wasn't even sure why I was scared, but I was. Something really bad was going to happen soon. Who knew what? My arms wrapped tightly around his neck and I leaned into deepen the kiss.

Percy seemed confused at first, but didn't complain. He pulled me closer and gently raked his hands through my hair. Gods I hope Malcolm doesn't decide to open the door right now…

"Er… uh…" He started to stammer, "What's my name again?" I chuckled.

"Perseus Jackson," I answered.

"Right, I knew that." He choked out. I laughed and pecked him on the lips again.

"So… what's wrong?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Percy raised an eyebrow.

"The last time you kissed me like that I was about to die in Mt. St. Helen's." Good times.

"I'm not allowed to kiss my boyfriend?"

"Not complaining!" I smiled.

"Percy, I love you." I said seriously. And I meant it. I don't know why but I had to tell him that.

"Love you too, Annabeth." He bent his head to give me one more short, sweet, kiss. The moonlight reflected in his eyes. I stared into them, the fear still not going away. I squeezed his waist and buried my face in his neck.

"Night Seaweed Brain." I whispered. He kissed the top of my head.

"Night." And with that he walked back to his cabin, blowing me on last kiss when he reached the door.

**Percy POV**

Annabeth was acting weird… I wonder if Chiron told her more than what she said? I'd talk to her tomorrow.

Just before I fell down onto my bed, a bright white light filled the cabin and I had to shield my eyes.

"_Perseus Jackson!" _A voice yelled. It sort of reminded me of my mom when she was angry. The light subsided to reveal a woman with mahogany hair and a white, sleeveless dress. Sort of like the one Annabeth had worn when we visited Circe's Isle.

"H-Hera?" I squeaked. The goddess nodded.

"Perseus Jackson, I have an important job for you." That can't be good, "You're going on a little… vacation."

"Vacation? For how long?" I demanded. She didn't answer.

"There is a Roman Camp to the west, in California." She informed me, "You, and you alone, will be going there." Roman camp?

"What?" That must have sounded really stupid because she rolled her eyes.

"And you're the Savior of Olympus…" She muttered, "But no matter. We haven't any more time. Quickly now!"

"But what about Annabeth…?"

"No time. Hopefully you will see her again."

"Hopefully?!"

"Now Perseus!"

"Lady Hera, with all due respect, I'm not just going to pick up and leave without Annabeth." I said firmly. She groaned in exasperation.

"Just as well, Aphrodite is ready to send me to Tartarus for this anyways." Hera looked me in the eye, "Mr. Jackson, I will grant you this one wish that I will not grant the other. You will be allowed one memory."

"One what?"

"A memory, fool! You can remember one thing when I take you!" Take me?! Did Chiron know about this? What would my mother do? Oh gods Annabeth…

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that when a goddess wants something, she gets it. If I was going to get a memory, I knew which one I wanted.

"Annabeth."

**Annabeth POV**

_The next morning…_

"Annabeth! Wake up!" Malcolm shook my shoulder.

"Step away before I stab you." I groaned. Footsteps sounded.

"Annabeth you need to talk to Chiron. Now." Malcolm sounded serious. I blinked an eye open.

"What are you talking about?"

"Just go."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S GONE?!" I cried. Chiron sat in his wheelchair, looking down at his hands.

"Percy was not in his cabin this morning, and it looks as though he hadn't been there all night."

"He has to be at camp somewhere," I insisted, "Have you checked the lake yet? Or maybe the forest…"

"My dear, he's gone." Chiron interrupted, "I'm sorry." My legs were shaking, and my head was pounding. There was no way Percy had just disappeared. I watched him go into his cabin for god's sake!

I _knew _something bad was going to happen!

And that's probably around the time when I fell down to the floor and started crying.

**Trinity POV**

Break had gone by awful slow. The entire time I'd been scared out of my wits about our friends. Something bad was brewing, I hadn't been able to go an hour without seeing a monster go by my window. By the time school started again I was ready to burst!

Hayden and I stood by the window in the front, watching for their car. A bright yellow school bus pulled up in front, and the first off was Rachel. She spotted us, but didn't walk any quicker.

"Rachel, where is everyone?" Hayden asked.

"Er… there was a… problem." She said slowly, "I'm the only one coming back." My blood turned to ice.

"Where are they? What happened?" Rachel's eyes were watery as she stared at me.

"Percy's missing."

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**And thus concludes this tale! Trust me, "Goode to be Back" will have a much stronger plot line. Thanks for reading, see you all soon!**


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